There is an old adage in football that if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win the game. And never was that truer than for Grays Athletic on their visit to Walthamstow. The home side will certainly think they also had enough opportunities to earn the three points, which they eventually did but Grays should have had the game sewn up well before then.

With barely 30 seconds on the clock, Gael Keliba found Gabriel Chapps inside the box and with the goal gaping, he missed the target. And then just a minute later, Chapps turned provider for Denzil Effah who shot over the bar. Keliba then went on a fine jinking run across the byline into the six yard box and the ball bounced around but wouldn’t cross the line.

Walthamstow weathered the Blue storm and slowly worked their way into the contest. Over the ninety minutes their style was very quick and direct, which Grays struggled to counter, too often being muscled out of challenges. Joden Trickett’s header caused no real alarm and Jack Empson’s long range free kick went wide.

The game was end-to-end and from a Connor Hogan cross, Ollie Muldoon flung himself at the ball but again it just wouldn’t go into the net. At the other end, former Blue, Jordan Peart let fly from distance and hit the crossbar, with Danny Sambridge beaten.

Referee Mr Fitzpatrick, who did Blues very few favours all evening, then waved away appeals for what looked to be a stonewall penalty, with Keliba felled in a sandwich with three Walthamstow defenders, as he was about to shoot.

And Grays were made to pay for their profligacy just before the break. The home side worked the ball nicely across the box and Trickett’s shot from the edge of the box wasn’t hard but well directed back into the far corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Half time : Walthamstow 1 v 0 Grays Athletic

Early in the second half, Peart made a good run into the six yard box and was only denied by the feet of the Grays keeper. Luke Warner-Eley, whose dead ball delivery was a danger all evening, saw his resulting corner headed wide by Empson.

Then a moment of real class, Keliba chased a long clearance down to the corner flag and passed back to Denim Nnamidi, just off the bench. He jagged past the defenders to the corner of the box and let fly a curling shot, even better than his effort last Saturday, giving home keeper Luke Mowitt no chance, to bring the scores level at 1-1.

Another Warner-Eley delivery this time saw Ali Njie fail to hit the target with his header, before Nnamudi produced another bit of magic with a slide rule pass to find the advancing Tyler Brampton whose cross was sidefooted wide by Muldoon.

Midway through the half, Walthamstow created their own six-yard box melee, with the ball coming back off a post and again not wanting to cross the line.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Chapps tried his luck from distance but shot over the crossbar, before the same player should probably have done better with a header from Guy Norton’s long free kick.

And with just six minutes left of normal time, Walthamstow punished the visitors for a second and final time, when a good ball in behind the Blues defence was eventually drilled home by Zion Sinclair to win the game 2-1.

The final score was hard on Blues who should have taken at least a point from the game but it was a lesson learned. I get the sense there will be many fixtures this season that swing just one way or the other. The trick is to learn how to win these tight encounters.

Attention now turns to the Cups. This Saturday, Blues travel to Billericay’s New Lodge ground to take on Hutton FC in the FA Cup, before a renewal of battle with our old friends from Canvey Island in the FA Trophy the following weekend.

Let’s get behind the boys and make progress in these key competitions.

Final score : Walthamstow 2 v 1 Grays Athletic

Grays Ath : Sambridge, Brampton, Norton, Jude, J Clark, Hogan, Kileba, Muldoon (87, Moss), Chapps, Moncur (46, Nnamudi), Effah (53, Hepburn)

Subs not used : Joynes, L Clark