Grays Athletic 3 Exeter City 0 (Home)(SkySports)

Mon, April 10, 2006. Kick off: 7:45 PM in Matches

Match Report by Martin Candler

Grays overcame the twin obstacles of an Exeter side determined to avenge their Trophy semi-final defeat at the hands of the Blues and a hoodoo of not winning in normal time in front of the Sky cameras. In a fiercely competitive game which was hardly pretty to watch, Grays nevertheless produced a masterclass in clinical finishing. The on-fire Glenn Poole provided the cutting edge by opening the scoring and laying on the other two goals for Dennis Oli and Johnny Martin. Exeter, relying on a pressing game, created half-chances for Chris Todd and Lee Phillips but, in truth, defences held sway for most of the rather scrappy first half. In the 34th minute Grays conjured a goal when Aaron McLean, who had seen an acrobatic overhead attempt flash wide, rose to a long clearance from Andy Sambrook and flicked a header on to Mark De Bolla. With Poole making ground on the left De Bolla slid the ball to him and Poole coolly drilled a cross-shot into the far corner of the net.

The second half saw Exeter take the game to Grays and Matt Gill and Phillips had chances, but Grays showed great resilience in a battling performance with Jamie Stuart, Stuart Thurgood and McLean at its heart. The turning point of the match came in the 64th minute. A header from Todd hit the bar and from the rebound John Nutter, as ever, found that man Poole in acres of space; in a flash Poole had picked out the rapid forward run of sub Dennis Oli with a brilliant pass and Oli raced through the stretched visitor?s defence to slot past Paul Jones.

In the 70th minute, a terrific shot by Poole was somehow parried by Jones but sub Gary Hooper kept his composure when the ball broke to him and picked out the on-rushing Martin who lashed the ball in from close range. Still Exeter refused to give up and a ferocious 35-yarder from Phillips struck the upright. It was just not the Grecian?s night as their play-off hopes were left in tatters. In contrast, the Blues recorded their 5th victory on the bounce and moved into 4th spot in the league with games in hand.

Grays Athletic: Bayes, Sambrook, Stuart, Hanson, Nutter, Thurgood, Martin, Kightly(Hooper 68), Poole(Olayinka 85), McLean, DeBolla(Oli 60).
Subs Not Used: Eyre, Bruce

Goals: Poole(34), Oli(64), Martin(70)

Booked: DeBolla

Att: 1369

Ref: R Shoebridge(Derbyshire)

Fans Man of the Match: Poole

Photo: ? Rob Vallance