Dockers take Velocity Cup honours
Writes StewieG
Grays young squad give good account but rivals take the spoils

With one eye firmly on their FA Trophy tie at the weekend, Grays Ath manager, Lewis Dark, chose to shuffle his pack for this Velocity Cup first round tie against local rivals Tilbury, whose boss, John Coventry, chose a different path, naming much of the same XI as had lost to the Blues in the league only a few days earlier. Dark handed first team debuts to a number of the U23 squad, who acquitted themselves well but ultimately came up short.
For much of the first half it was Grays who looked to make the running, with the younger players confident on the ball and keen to go forwards. But the warnings were there as early as the 10th minute when Dockers’ winger Alex Clark broke through on goal, but was adjudged offside. And it was good work by Clark down the right wing after 20 minutes that broke the deadlock, when his cross found David Knight in the box, ahead of the defence and he finished clinically for a 1-0 lead.
Kudos Oyenuga, playing a lively but rather isolated role up front for the Blues, was denied an equaliser soon after by a fine last-ditch tackle by Lewis Jaggs.
But it was that man Clark who made it 2-0 himself ten minutes later when the ball broke to him on the edge of the penalty area and he put the ball calmly passed Blues keeper, Sam Griek, who could do nothing about either goal.
Blues were though seeing a lot of the ball and a long period of possession, late in the half, ended when Dhillon Sandhu-Nelson’s shot was saved comfortably by George Marsh in the Dockers goal.

Half time: Grays Ath 0 v 2 Tilbury

Grays sought to restore some parity in the game, bringing Sam Bantick, Macaulay Joynes and Anointed Chukwu off the bench. But Tilbury were content to sit deep and soak up the pressure that the reshaped Blues line generated. Callum Watts was seeing more of the ball but too often the Grays forward line was crowded out from getting any clear sight of goal. Both Bantick and Chukwu spurned a number of chances, with Tilbury content to play on the break and giving Sam Griek a much quieter half.
It was nearly 3-0 when Knight struck a post with a free kick from outside the box and at the other end, Watts broke free of the defence but Marsh was not to be beaten.
So Tilbury gained some revenge for the league defeat the previous weekend and move into round two of the League Cup. Grays though have bigger fish to fry with the visit of Faversham Town on Saturday, as they look to make the competition proper in the FA Trophy for the first time in a decade.

Grays Ath: Griek, Homans, Melaugh, Watts, Adeji-Afriyie (Joynes, 45), Okonkwo, Balogun (Bantick, 45), Toussaint (Hellen, 68), Oyenuga (Damrell, 60), Karby, Sandhu-Nelson (Chukwu, 45)