Felixstowe & Walton 1 v 0 Grays Ath

Grays travelled to Felixstowe & Walton on Saturday looking to take inspiration from their late fight-back against Basildon in midweek. But sadly, Blues failed to live up to their own expectations, in a poor game of few chances and little to cheer the mood of the travelling faithful. Their cause was not though helped by a sickness bug working its way through the squad, making several players unavailable and others less than 100%.
Grays best chance of the game probably came as early as the fifth minute when a long free kick from Ronnie Winn was headed on by Callum Leahy and Lewis Clark put the chance wide. That apart too much of the early play was scrappy, with both sides conceding possession too easily. Blues though started to grow into the game the better with Callum Watts industrious, as ever, in midfield. And when he nicked the ball on the quarter hour and drove forward, his long-range shot was pushed out unconvincingly by home keeper, Callum Robinson, but there was no Blue shirt on hand to put away the rebound.
Out wide for Felixstowe, Andre Hasanally looked most inventive and his dangerous ball into the box was well cleared by Lewis Clark. And after half an hour, Danny Sambridge was called into action for the first time, to tip over a strong header by Billy Holland from a Henry Barley free kick. And not long after the visitors’ keeper got down well low to keep out a long shot from Barley.
Just before half time, both Marlon Agyakwa and Jesse Olukolu took on full back, Callum Bennett, who took out the latter unceremoniously. But the referee chose to keep his cards in his pocket. And there was still time for Roman Campbell to feed Watts, who let fly again, but Robinson saved well.

Half time: Felixstowe & W 0 v 0 Grays Ath

Unlike most games this season, Grays’ performance in the second half was very disappointing, with the Felixstowe defence marshalling the game well and allowing Blues little space.
The nature of these poor encounters is that one goal is usually enough to take the points and on 58 minutes, it was the homes side that got the vital breakthrough. Substitute Charlie Warren’s cross into the Grays area was only partially dealt with by Sambridge and the Blues defence failed to clear their lines. The ball fell to Callum Harrison six yards out and he couldn’t miss.
Blues were feeding off scraps and for the home side, Oliver Canfer, also off the bench, could have made it two but shot over.
Not until the final five minutes, did Grays exert any real pressure. Lewis Clark’s ball into the box found Watts’ head but again Robinson saved well and the ball was cleared away for a corner. And then just before the 90 minute mark, Watts chased a long clearance but was just beaten to the ball by Robinson advancing out of his area.
In these kinds of games, the result is everything and the honours went to Felixstowe, allowing them to leapfrog Grays in the scramble for playoff places. There will be many twists and turns in the race before the end of the season, with Lowestoft visiting Parkside next weekend and the chance for Blues to get back on track after a disappointing week.
Final score: Felixstowe & W 1 v 0 Grays Ath
Grays Ath: Sambridge, G.Winn (Bantick, 62), Joynes, R.Winn, L.Clark, Leahy, Gordon, Watts, Campbell, Agyakwa, Olukolu (Lynch, 80)
Sub not used: Griek