After the midweek defeat Julian Dicks rang the changes playing 4-3-3 by dropping Si Thomas and Tom Harvey, for Danny Charge and Danny Morgan, although it took time for them to gel during the game.
Needham started the quickest with Sam Newson and debutant Kris Lea chasing the ball down and pressurising the Blues defence. The Athletic midfield were giving the ball away cheaply but fortunately the Needham forwards could not capitalise on the freedom they were given, or against the solid back four of Grays.
The early exchanges were played end to end with Morgan and Alex Osborn showing great pace running at the Marketeers defence, with Danny Thrower and Jack Eades doing the same for the home side. Eades found space on the left for Brad Barber to shoot wide as Needham found themselves on top for several minutes.
Grays came back and a slick pass from Dean Pennant found Osborn free for his shot to go wide. Osborn returned the pass for Pennant to shoot straight at the keeper as the Blues upped the pace. The end to end play continued as Pip Boyland, Eades and Mike Steward all had shots on the Grays goal. Needham forced a corner on the quarter hour and the ball came in from Eades to cause a goal mouth scramble and Newson was quick to pounce on the loose ball to stab home the ball to give Needham Market the lead.
Grays tried to rally but gave the ball away too easily for any momentum to build as they tried to get into the half. The ball found Osborn on the left who ran at the defence to find Morgan free in front of goal but his poorly hit shot found the home stopper, Danny Gay. The Needham midfield pushed forward but could not get past the Blues defence. Docker hit a long shot for Duran Reynolds to run onto but his well hit shot went just wide.
Grays pushed to get the levelling goal and a period where they had a series of corners would not find a firm shot on target as the home defence closed the ball out. Eades found a clear run at goal and brought out a good save by Steve Northwood in the away goal. The ref blew for half time with honours even on balance of play, but with Grays down by the one goal.
Dicks’ half time talk brought out the best of the Blues for the second half as they came out with a purpose and dominated the half. Eljay Worrell, and John Docker were the playmakers who made Grays tick. The hard working Marvin Samuel tackled hard to free the ball and was instrumental in getting the equaliser. On 53 minutes he intercepted the ball and put it through to Osborn. A mazey run through the Needham defence gave Pennant space to hit a twenty yard shot past Gay to level the game, and stamp the Blues authority.
Grays controlled the game for long periods and allowed Needham very little space for their flare players to move. Fontaine came on at the hour mark, for Charge, and immediately made a difference, pulling the home defence wide and allowing Morgan and Osborn space to move through the middle. A foul on Morgan gave Reynolds a chance to shoot from a free-kick, his shot was parried by Gay and Dockers shot went tantalisingly wide of the post. The Blues took their eye off the game when a long pass found Newson clear of the defence and only a superbly timed tackle by Danny Smith stopped a one-to-one chance on Northwood.
Grays carried on with their dominance with Fontaine running at the defence but his crosses were cut out by the home defence. A clever turn by Docker found Pennant clear on the edge of the box to be fouled by Kevin Horlock, amid penalty claims. The resultant free kick was well held by Gay. Osborn on the left was finding a lot of space and his runs in field were causing panic in the home defence. He cut in and shot wide, another shot was turned round by Gay, his third attempt saw him brought down by the home stopper and the injury was enough to see him subbed on full time by Jared Small. The ref played five extra minutes as Grays stayed on top but could not get the winning goal their performance deserved.
A better performance than midweek and the confidence and belief was back on the faces of the Grays players as they walked off to loud applause from the 100 or so travelling fans.
Grays Athletic, :- Steve Northwood, Eljay Worrell, Duran Reynolds, Brad Thomas, Danny Smith, John Docker, Dean Pennant, Marvin Samuel, Danny Charge (Jason Fontaine 63) Danny Morgan, Alex Osborn (Jared Small 90)
