Ryman Premier
Grays Athletic 2 v 0 Billericay Town
GRAYS were very impressive as they brushed aside local rivals Billericay Town 2-0 at Mill Field.
Grays were scrappy early on, with a few unforced errors and mis-placed passes. The bobbly pitch did not help.
Both sides also looked like they had the sweltering heat to contend with as well.
Luke Ifill is a dangerous right back and his rampaging runs caused concern early on.
Grays were still losing the ball and when they did that in attack, they soon turned to 4-2-4 and looked a little bit vulnerable. But Town could not produce any attack of note.
The first real chance came in the 28th minute when good work down the right by Town’s Loui Hazelwood saw a cross fall at the feet of Teddy Nesbitt. He snapped at his chance and by the time he tried again he was bundled over by Grays’ keeper.
Much of Billericay’s best work was by Halewood but his crosses weren’t being met by his team mates.
Grays’ broke the deadlock in injury time when a neat back heel went into the path of Brad Tomlinson who keep this cool to slot the ball home. It was a wonderful goal and said a lot about the Grays Athletic under Mark Bentley.
Grays came out for the second half with a stiff breeze in their faces.whilst Billericay probably had boss Craig Edward’s words ringing in they ears.
Grays consolidated in the second half, closing Town down and working hard.
There was a lot of solid defending going on from Grays that does not make headlines but is vital. Sean Cronin and Jay Leader time and time again kept Town at bay.
But the unforced errors were sneaking in again and as the second goal did not look like coming, it was a concern for the Grays boss Mark Bentley.
Until the 65th minute, when Joao Carlos was up-ended by clumsy Town keeper Jake Giddens.
The referee awarded a penalty and James Stevens blasted the ball home.
Town heads dropped in the heat. When Lewis Manor hit the bar in the 75th minute, it summed up their day.
Meanwhile, Grays were playing possession football and looked very comfortable.
They played out the rest of the half and took the three points to move into second place.
As you can see from manager, Mark Bentley’s interview, this is a Grays Athletic now on a different level to what the players have seen over the last five or six seasons. This is a professionally minded team playing in a professional manner.
These are really interesting times for Grays Athletic.
Grays Athletic Johnson L, Ifill L, Siva J, Cronin S, Leader J, Stevens J, (Bentley M 80)Fortnam-Tomlinson B, Beaney K, Dumaka D, Ferguson N, Carlos J ( Michael-Percil R 75)
Subs not used: Reynolds L,, Cummings T, Agombar H,
Billericay Town
Giddens J, Williams O, Stephenson A (Stamp S 79), Curley F, Ellul J, Beavan G, Hazelwood L, Hubble C, Derry T, Sodje O (Manor L 67), Nesbitt T ( Baker H 79)
Subs not used: Dunne C, Kharshiladze M,
Att:263
