Whether it was the early 1pm kick off or the fact it was a Sunday, this match was played out in front of an unusually subdued crowd for a Grays game at Parkside. This was all the more perculiar given the excellent display by the home side as they eased into the next round in this
FA Trophy tie.

Merstham are currently at the bottom of the Isthmian South Central division and the opening exchanges looked as though their struggles would continue as Sam Bantick hit the post as the home side pressed forward. Blues pressure eventually told as Callum Watts scored the games
first goal on 12 minutes. He received a bouncing ball about 30 yards from goal and lobbed a volley of parabolic trajectory that a maths teacher would have been proud of to evade the grasp of Otuyo in the Merstham goal and bulge the net.

As well as waking the crowd up, this strike seemed to spark the visitors into life as they started to spend more time in the Grays half. On 23 minutes Grays were down to 10 men with Josh Osude receiving treatment from an earlier tackle and Merstham capitalised down the Blues right flank eventually leading to an outstretched leg from Geofrey Okonkwo conceding a penalty.

Charlie Greenwood stepped up and slotted the spot kick low to the right of Danny Sambridge, in his hundreth Grays appearence, to level the scores. For the remainder of the first half the visitors grew in confidence and had their best spell of the game before the referee called half time.

If the first half was an even affair, the second half was anything but, as Grays took control of the game. On 48 minutes Sam Bantick broke down the right and drilled a cross into the 6 yard box that created confusion in the visiting defence. As the ball was being cleared Anointed
Chukwu was on the spot to block this, leading to a rebound that flew into the goal to give the lead back to Grays. A matter of minutes later Chukwu was to get his second goal as Grays really started to dominate. Callum Watts surged forward and he laid the ball into substitute
Aron Gordon who picked out Chukwu who turned and shot low into the net to effectively end the game as a contest. Gordon the provider then became the scorer as he netted the fourth for a now rampant Grays team. Receiving the ball on the edge of the area, he dribbled towards the
'D' before firing a low shot into the right corner and then running off to celebrate with his family in the stands.

Merstham did start to create some more chances of their own at the other end but the game was up and the Blues saw out the game to ensure progress to the next round.