Grays travelled to Roding Lane on Tuesday evening as hosts Buckhurst Hill played their first ever game in the Isthmian League.

On an excellent, flat and well watered playing surface, ideally suited to passing football, The Blues never matched their hosts work rate and movement and were undone by two first half goals by former Tilbury winger, Max Gnandi.

Mitch Hahn named an unchanged starting eleven from the Cup win over Hutton and they made a bright start, but without really troubling The Stags goalkeeper, Christian North.

However, this was short lived, on 7 minutes, former Blue, Shane Temple, turned inside from the left side of midfield, shrugged off two challenges and threaded a pass through to Gnandi who was left in acres of space beyond Grays back line, looking well offside. There was though no flag and Gnandi, took the ball around Danny Sambridge to make it 1-0.

The first goal in this game was always going to be crucial. Scoring first gave Buckhurst Hill more self belief and they started to play some neat passing football helped by an ineffective Grays press, with Gabriel Chapps working the channels on his own up front.

However, on 14 minutes Grays were gifted a chance to equalise as a sloppy clearance caught a player off balance leaving Freddie Moncur with only one defender in front of him. Freddie took on the shot but it lacked the power and accuracy to trouble North. Little did we know that would be Blues last decent attempt on target until the 91st minute.

Grays continued with Chapps as the lone striker trying to close The Stags defenders down, but with the Gael Kileba and Ned Hepburn dropping deep alongside Connor Hogan and Ollie Muldoon the gap behind Gabriel made it easy for The Stags to pass the ball out from the back. A braver approach with the team pressing together as a unit would have asked more questions and as we have seen already this season, winning the ball high often brings big opportunities.

By contrast, The Stags chased everything and set traps for Blues in the midfield when the ball was passed forward. Grays had plenty of possession but time and again could not fashion a clear cut opportunity, although a good run and cross from Tyler Brampton was a fraction too high for Ollie Muldoon.

On 34 minutes, Stags doubled their lead. Suley Zuhdu's effort from the edge of the box was blocked but fell to Gnandi who quickly hit a powerful shot through defenders legs that beat Danny Sambridge to his right.

However, Blues had Sambridge to thank before half time as he came a long way out of goal to to clear a through ball with the defence left appealing in vain for offside.

Half time : Buckhurst Hill 2 v 0 Grays Athletic

The start of the second half saw Grays twice within a minute break into the right side of the Stags penalty box through Tyler Brampton, but on neither occasion was anyone on the same wavelength to make the most of the opportunity.

Mitch had seen enough and it says a lot that he made 4 substitutions together as early as the 55th minute with Kye Jude replacing Brampton Guy Norton on for Macca Joynes, Sam Wade for Freddie Moncur and Rob Harvey for Gael Kileba.

The changes had some impact as Harvey immediately put in an excellent cross but once again, there was no Grays player busting a gut to get into the box to finish it off.

On 63 minutes Hepburn was replaced by Denzel Effah. And very quickly, he showed his intent by collecting a short free kick and letting fly from 30 yards with the shot dipping just too late.

Sam Wade was also making a difference up front, pressing the Buckhurst Hill defence and showing far more intensity . It has to be said The Stags defended well and avoided any big errors that could be punished, even as the revised Blues line-up pushed forwards.

As the game entered the last 20 minutes, The Stags could see the finish line and started to protect their lead and this helped The Blues get control of the game and more possession in the final third. There were numerous crosses into the box that were either too high or with no-one in position to finish them off. Two corners from Effah had pace, but failed to beat the first man.

You had the feeling that a goal back even at this late stage and nerves would play a big part in the final few minutes.

On 84 minutes a good 1-2 down the left put Guy in the clear and his cross was on the money. Sadly, again though, no Blues player read the play., summing up the night's play for the visitors. By now, Lewis Clark (how good to see him back playing) was pressed up front to add some strength to the attack.

Another corner this time from the left saw Alex Moss climb highest to get a flicked header but the ball went just wide of the far post.
In injury time, Effah beat a defender on the left side of the box and got off a fine shot matched by North's diving save.

So the final whistle saw The Stags win their first ever game at Step 4 and it was well deserved. Their energy and organisation without the ball and their movement and understanding in possession was the real difference on the night. They are a settled side and it is to be hoped that as a largely new team, Grays will improve in these areas, but they need to learn and learn quickly.

No-one in Blue had a really bad game and there were some good individual performances, but on the day, the whole was less than the sum of its parts and we failed to work the keeper anywhere near enough. It was the opposite with Buckhurst Hill, who fought for one another and showed they can play some good football too. We will see whether they can match that intensity throughout the season but they are working from solid foundations.

For Grays, a huge Bank Holiday double on Canvey Island awaits. First up our FA Trophy clash with The Gulls on Saturday followed by a visit to the high flying Beachboys at Concord Rangers in the League on Monday as Mitch and the coaching team will be looking for a bounce back from this very disappointing defeat.

Final score : Buckhurst 2 v 0 Grays Athletic

Grays Ath : Sambridge, Brampton (56, Jude), Joynes (56, Norton), Moss, L.Clark, Hogan, Hepburn (63, Effah), Muldoon, Chapps, Moncur (56, Wade), Kileba (56, Kileba)