The headline of this game is that it was one that gave Grays Ath an outstanding five wins in a row, with a fourth clean sheet in those fixtures, making us one of the form sides in the league. In truth though it was a poor encounter and one that was probably forgotten by the time most of the crowd got home. That said, winning ugly is all part of football and three points is three points - something that opponents, Basildon United, would have craved.

The first half saw Blues dominating much of the possession but Basildon fighting for their lives, in their scrap to avoid relegation. Within the first ten minutes, Shane Temple, Louie Remi and Aron Gordon had all had shots on goal, each one more threatening than the last, but all to no avail. And Sid Walker, after his recent humdinger against Cambridge City, also tried his luck from distance but missed the target.

It took half an hour for any quality football to appear on the pitch - but when it did it was a joy to behold. Walker drove through the midfield and fed the ball to Aron Gordon. He jinked his way closer to goal and crossed to find Alejandro Machado lurking by the penalty spot and he drove the chance clinically into the net for a 1-0 lead. The crowd thought that Blues would press on from here but they couldn’t find the touch necessary to take advantage of a Basildon defence that has a history of conceding goals.

Temple’s header was cleared for a corner and Machado found Louie Remi whose hooked effort found the side netting. Basildon were playing on the break and on one occasion, Nathan Best almost got clear but a fine tackle from Kenedi Dariri ended the attack.

Late in the half, Aron Gordon went on one of his trademark mazy runs but shot wide and then a Remi corner was touched onto the bar by Basildon keeper, George Marsh.

Half time : Grays Athletic 1 v 0 Basildon United

After the break, Blues took a long time to get going, allowing Basildon the chance to take something from the game. Their best chance came from a shot by Joshua Taylor, forcing Danny Sambridge into his only meaningful save of the evening.

As the visitors tired, it was a case of what might, and really should have been, for Grays. Machado’s through ball found Shane Temple but he dithered and ex-Blue Michael Toner intervened to snuff out the chance. And then Aron Gordon could have had a fifteen minute hat-trick but went home empty handed. Firstly, Temple found him with a lovely pass through the defence but he overran the ball, allowing Marsh to take control; and then just a couple of minutes later Gordon was through again one-on-one with Marsh, but the keeper produced a fine save to deny the Grays winger a second time. Then finally, Gordon played a lovely one-two with sub Brett Munyard but his shot came back off the post.

The final chance of the night fell to Munyard himself, but Marsh denied him too.

In truth though these notes ignore long passages of play that were error-strewn and unproductive for both sides. Grays were short of the pace and bite shown in recent outings - perhaps the hectic schedule of recent weeks had caught up with the players. But it was a lacklustre performance, albeit a winning one - something the fans longed for just a few weeks ago.

Special mention must though be made of Elliott Sartorius who ran tirelessly for 90 minutes and proved a thorn in Basildon’s side all night. His performances in recent weeks have been one of the stand outs in the winning run. Congratulations also go to Blues captain Michael Finneran for whom this was a 100th appearance in a Grays shirt and to keeper Danny Sambridge who recently clocked up his 200th outing for Blues.

The win moved Grays up to eleventh in the table, level on points with and sitting between Redbridge and Cambridge City. Basildon though remain deep in the mire. Their new management team and recruits need to turn things round very quickly if they are to avoid the drop, sitting seven points from safety with only six games remaining - with maybe a do-or-die fixture away to Wroxham this coming Saturday.

For Blues, this weekend sees the annual Community Day, wrapped around our home game against Essex rivals Witham Town, who still have a sniff of the playoffs. A bumper crowd is expected, with plenty of activities to keep everyone interested.

Final score : Grays Athletic 1 v 0 Basildon United

Grays Ath : Sambridge, Brampton, Dariri, Machado (66, Hope), Finneran, Jude, Gordon, Walker, Temple (78, Munyard), Sartorius, Remi (81, Skarna).

Sub not used : Moss