Ryman Premier
Grays Athletic 1 v 1 Burgess Hill Town
Report by Dave Seaman
Debutant Striker Luke Hornsley marked his debut for the club with a well taken goal writes Dave Seaman.
The Blues halted a run of defeats with this hard earned draw against mid table Burgess Hill Town It was a game that will not live long in the memory as the combination of a blustery wind, firm playing surface and some fussy refereeing prevented any prospect of flowing football.
Jamie Stuart named himself in the starting eleven and gave a first start to recent signing Luke Hornsley with the team changing to a 3-5-2 formation.
There was significantly little action of note in the opening exchanges and it wasn’t until the 11th minute that either goal was threatened when Blues Jamie Mascoll crossed low into the box. Hornsley’s desperate lunge just failed to make firm contact seeing the ball loop agonisingly wide.
Burgess Hill came close to open the scoring when Izuchukwu latched on to a free kick glancing a header just over Grays goal and then Stuart had a similar opportunity at the other end heading straight into keeper Harris’s hands.
From a Burgess Hill corner Blues broke quickly, Stuart found Adiyenka Cole in space he raced forward and with only Harris to beat he struck the ball straight at the keeper. Hornsley did get the ball in the net after good work by George Pilbeam but he was flagged for offside. Pilbeam then brought a good save from Harris turning his goal bound header over.
Burgess Hill threatened the Blues goal but the experience of Stuart at the back ensured their goal remained intact that was until the stroke of half time when Izuchukwu grabbed the opening goal.It came from a free kick the ball was played into the home box where Izuchukwu was quickest to react prodding the ball past Thomas.
Blues made a tactical change at half time bringing on Tayshan Hayden-Smith at the expense of Pilbeam and reverted back to 4-4-2 giving the Blues more balance with Smith adding pace to the midfield.
The change certainly worked when Blues got back on level terms in the 56th minute. Hornsley chased a ball out wide with Burgess Hill defender Fisk favourite to clear the danger but Hornsley had other ideas, managing to get a touch on the ball and played the ball over to Toure, who in turn slotted the ball past Harris.
Play was becoming stretched at either end and it was Thomas who came to Blues rescue making a great bock save from Brivio when he looked favourite to score.
Hornsley boosted by his goal looked eager for the ball, a good run and shot brought a good save from Harris.
Blues could have gone behind for the second time in the game when Cole played the ball back to his keeper with a Burgess Hill attacker in close proximity, Thomas was forced into a hurried kick straight to Fisk who played the ball forward where Stuart was forced to concede aand free kick on the edge of the area which fortunately sailed just over.
It was to be the last goalscoring opportunity for both sides and on reflection a draw was probably the right result given the difficult conditions. For Grays the draw brought to an end a dismal run of results and with Luke Hornsley making a scoring debut, they may have found the answer to their scoring problems.
The result leaves Grays second from bottom of the league.
They return to action on Wednesday night at home against Lowestoft Town.
Grays: Callum Thomas, George Pilbeam (Tayshan Hayden-Smith 45), Jamie Mascoll, Stephane Ngamvoulou, Jake Hutchings, Kwabena Osei, Adeyinka Cole, Jamie Stuart, Lheureux Menga (Etienne Mukanya Kabobola 55), Harry Watkins (Kyle Roberts 61) Luke Hornsley
Scorer – Luke Hornsley (56′)
Burgess Hill Town: Alex Harris, Joey Taylor, Leon Redwood, Dan Pearse, Cheick Toure, Sam Fisk, Lee Harding, Okwute Izuchukwu, Daniel Thompson, Jack Brivio (Pat Harding 71), Tyrell Richardson-Brown (Chris Smith 79)
Scorer – Okwute Izuchukwu (45′)
