Matches

Season 2005-6 in focus

“WHEN THE BLUE TURNS TO GRAY”

A BRIEF REVIEW

Following the most successful season in the Club's 115 years history, we moved into the Nationwide Conference National Division brimming with confidence.

Pre-season training started without Mitchell Cole, who was sold to Southend United for a reported fee of £45,000. A varied 10 game programme brought seven wins, two draws and one defeat (at the hands of Leyton Orient’s first team squad). The highlights were a 2-1 win against a full strength Colchester United outfit, a thrilling 3-3 draw with a Southend United side which included Freddy Eastwood and Mitchell Cole and an 8-1 hammering of Welling United.

On the playing side, we released Vill Powell, Carl Emberson, Liam George, Martin Carthy and Steve Robinson, the latter two because they were unable to commit to full-time training due to the good jobs they had outside football, rather than any question about their footballing ability.

We signed former Spurs loanee keeper, Nicky Eyre, defenders Andy Sambrook from Rushden, Cameron Mawer from Watford and Stevland Angus, previously at Cambridge United, midfielder Tom Williamson from Canvey, flankers Michael Kightly from Southend United and Glenn Poole from Thurrock, and forward Jamie Slabber from Spurs.

During the season we released Steve West, Dean Brennan and Tony Battersby, loaned Angus to Barnet and took on Christian Hanson from Leyton Orient, Mark de Bolla from Notts County and two other loanees, Brett Johnson from Northampton and Andy Edwards from Southend United.

Off the field of play, the redevelopment of the New Rec moved on apace. With the new all seater 1,000 capacity stand and new terracing completed, the ground was nearing the Football League requirement. The big question was could the players’ performance match the improved facilities?

Between 13 August and 5 November we certainly weren’t let down! We went on an undefeated run of 18 games, with the 15 games as new boys at the top level of non-league equalling the best ever start to a Conference National season. A 4-1 thrashing of Southend United in the Essex Senior Cup and FA Cup wins against Cray Wanderers and a 3-0 humbling of York City on their own patch put us into the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in our history. It really was dream land!!

In the League, we had beaten title favourites Hereford United away, put six past Gravesend and scored last minute goals against former League sides, York City and Kidderminster Harriers. A 4-1 away win at Southport had the home supporters commenting that we were the best side seen at Haig Avenue in many a year.

The Sky cameras witnessed our first defeat at the hands of eventual champions Accrington Stanley on 12 November in front of nearly 2,000 fans. We bounced back immediately to grab a last minute victory at Exeter, in front of the season’s biggest crowd of nearly 6,700 at St James Park on 19 November and followed it up with a another last minute winner at fancied Stevenage. Gary Hooper was “Johnny on the spot” on both occasions.

Life at the top then became more difficult. In our next 5 League games we only gained two draws, lost at Morecambe and allowed Canvey to do the double over us. Mark Stimson was not amused!

Photo: © tgsphoto.co.uk

We also exited the FA Cup at Mansfield. With the Sky cameras present we were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat and on the wrong end of some truly bizarre refereeing decisions from a certain Mr Kettle.

Our defence of the FA Trophy began just before Christmas with a tough away fixture at Aldershot. We managed a draw at the other “Recreation Ground” and eased through in the replay with a 118th minute goal from the improving Glenn Poole, who was now coming to terms with full time training.

Into 2006 and we lost a penalty shoot-out to Chelmsford in the quarter final of the Essex Senior Cup, but recovered to beat another Conference side in the F A Trophy, Kidderminster, with another trademark last minute goal, this one a header from Aaron McLean who was beginning to find the net after struggling to score earlier in the season.

In our next 12 games we showed less consistency. We won five, including a great win at York City, with Aaron McLean getting another last minute winner, and Trophy wins at Hereford United and Dagenham in a replay, plus draws with Hereford, Cambridge and Woking in the League and Dagenham in the Trophy, but lost at home to Burton just after their FA Cup games with Manchester United, and then away at Halifax with an injury and illness plagued squad.

The worst performance of the season was a 4-0 thrashing at home to Dagenham on a wet and miserable Tuesday evening. This was soon forgotten as we recovered to get a draw against them the following Saturday in the Trophy and beat them 4-2 at Victoria Road in a thrilling replay to reach the semi-final.

Then came the drama of another Trophy semi-final, this time against Exeter. After taking the lead in the away leg thanks to a lovely lob over the keeper from Jamie Slabber, we lost our way a little in the second half and had to settle for a one goal deficit to keep the game very much alive for the return at Grays on 25 March. A pulsating first half performance saw us take a 2-0 lead within the first half an hour with a great volley from Glenn Poole and a quick turn and shot from the on-fire Aaron McLean.

The second half was a nail-biting affair. The turning point came after 70 minutes when John Martin was judged harshly to have tugged at an Exeter player‘s shirt and the referee awarded a penalty. Ashley Bayes faced Exeter‘s top scorer and former team-mate, Lee Phillips. His shot was well struck but “The Wall” moved smartly to push the ball out and Phillips knocked his follow up wide of the post. We held on to make it through to our second consecutive F A Trophy final, having beaten Conference sides in every round with another Conference team, Woking awaiting us in the final.

But before the final, we had unfinished League business to deal with. Our Cup run had given us a fixture pile-up which meant we had to play our last 10 games in the space of 32 days between 28 March and 29 April. The players did not disappoint us! With a brand of football that oozed class, we won 7 and drew 2 of these games, securing our place in the playoffs with one home game to spare.

During this hectic spell, we scored 30 goals and conceded only 10. The highlights were a 3-0 win (at last) in front of the Sky cameras against Exeter, which virtually ended their play-off aspirations, a 3-0 away win at Aldershot on Easter Monday followed up two days later with a 7-2 hammering of Scarborough who needed something out of the game to stave off relegation. A Michael Kightly hat-trick put paid to that!

Finishing third in our first season in the Conference was a major achievement. But it wasn’t just where we finished. The exciting brand of football produced had marked us out as something a little unusual in a League more renowned for a rather more dour and physical approach.

So to the play-offs and Halifax proved just too strong for us over the two games. The tie was probably lost in the first 35 minutes of the away leg at the Shay as we conceded three goals without reply. A spirited second half fight back, led by Dennis Oli who scored our two goals, gave us a chance in the Sky televised game the following Wednesday. Once again, the cameras were not kind to us. We fell behind to a great strike in the sixth minute and despite getting ahead at 2-1 with second half goals from Kightly and Nutter, a penalty decision against us proved crucial and the 2-2 draw was not enough to force the game into extra-time.

There was still one more game to savour. With Upton Park the superb venue for the F A Trophy final. A near 14,000 crowd, with around 8,000 from Grays, witnessed another great attacking display from the Blues. Considering the team had only three days to recover for this game following the Halifax play-off, the fitness levels and all round tempo of our game were a credit to all involved. Two goals just before half-time from Dennis Oli and Glenn Poole gave us the cushion we deserved. A sustained second half rally from Woking tested our defence, but we were equal to the task. Jamie Stuart marshalled the back line superbly and Ashley Bayes produced three terrific saves to keep us ahead.

It wasn’t all one way though, as we had further opportunities to increase the lead. A 2-0 victory was not really a reflection of our superiority but it was another fantastic day for the Club as Stuart Thurgood lifted the Trophy.

A statistical summary of the season doesn‘t really do it justice, but for the record, we played 59 competitive games, winning 31, drawing 16 and losing 12. We scored 124 goals and conceded 71. A crowning glory was the acknowledgment that our team played the game in the right fashion when four were selected to take part in the Home International Championships for the National Game X1. Congratulations to Stuart Thurgood, who captained the team, John Nutter, Dennis Oli and Aaron McLean. Having seen the game against Scotland, our men certainly did not look out of place with their international colleagues and Dennis Oli was given the “Man of the Match” accolade by the Non League Paper who reported on the game.

As we move towards our second season in the Conference, it remains to be seen if the “new kids on the block” can sustain the progress the Club has made over the last five years. Opponents will be more aware of the values our Club holds dear and may feel they can cope better with our style of play this time around. We await the new campaign with anticipation.

POST SCRIPT

The champagne had hardly been drunk from Upton Park when we heard that Mark and Scott had resigned. Your writer understands that their ambitions lay beyond our Club, but it was nevertheless disappointing that we couldn’t savour the success of the season for a little longer before the announcement came.

Mike Woodward moved quickly to appoint Frank Gray as manager and Gerry Murphy as his assistant. They come with a good reputation for playing the game the way we think it should be played and for developing young players. They have a very hard act to follow but we wish them every success and offer the website’s good wishes for a long and happy stay with Grays Athletic.

Come on you Blues!

League Table - Nationwide Conference 2005-6