Matches

Season 2006-7 in focus

“THE BLUES IN THE BLUE SQUARE”

A BRIEF REVIEW

Well, what a season this has turned out to be, there has never been a dull moment with Grays Athletic Football Club.

Following the rapid departure of Mark Stimson to Stevenage Borough shortly after the glorious FA Trophy Final at Upton Park, the Chairman selected the former Farnborough Town Manager Frank Gray to take the helm at the club, during the pre-season friendlies we lost our Captain, Stuart Thurgood, after he broke his ankle in the game against Leyton Orient.

The beginning of the season started quite well for us with the first five games going undefeated, things were looking on the up for the team once again then things started to slide we only won three of the following 12 matches, then followed the FA Cup 4th Round Qualifier against Bromley, unfortunately this game went against us and we lost 2-1 to the visitors, this was to be the end of Frank Gray and his backroom staff from Grays Athletic.

The next two league fixtures saw our Chairman, Mick Woodward; take on the role of Manager with a draw at Cambridge and a close defeat against Stevenage saw Mick hand over the reigns to Andy King, also we saw the loss of Grays Favourite striker Aaron McLean to Peterborough United.

Andy had mixed success during his few weeks in charge but he stood down from his position on Dec 6th when Mick Woodward announced that Justin Edinburgh had been installed as first team manager along with his Assistant, Jimmy Dack, Physio Dickie Harper also joined the team.

The club signed several players on loan to try and halt the slide of the team, during the new year we also saw the departure of our other Goal scorer Michael Kightly to Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers where he made an immediate impact on the Championship.

A new look Grays Athletic was starting to emerge under Justin‘s leadership and our Trophy run seemed to be going full steam again this season when we swept away, Weymouth, Weston Super Mare, Yeading and Welling to face Stevenage Borough in the Semi-Final, the two games were full of passion with Stevenage gaining the upper hand with a 1-0 win at The Rec, Grays travelled to Broadhall Way still full of confidence and determined to put one over their old Manager, Mark Stimson, but this was not to be our year, Alan Julian the Stevenage Goalkeeper had the game of his life and oulled off some superb saves to deny us the victory and Stevenage finished us off in extra time (2-1).

It seems like lady luck may have deserted us for the most part of the season as we now find ourselves in a relegation dog fight with a few other clubs, our home form has improved from last year and we are 6 league games unbeaten at home, but our away form has slipped, which is the opposite of last season.

Following the defeat at Morecambe on Saturday tensions were mounting whilst waiting for the results of the Altrincham and Southport games, there was an enormous sigh of relief from the crowd and management when the full time scores filtered through, Stafford were beaten by FGR and Altrincham were held to a draw with Aldershot.

The Altrincham result ensured Grays Athletics‘ survival in the newly named Blue Square Prem1er Conference for the 2007/08 season.

Here‘s looking forward to a new season in the top flight of Non-League Football

Just some of the comings and goings during this season:

IN: Anthony Barness (Un-attached, Free), Lee Boylan (Canvey Island, Free), Ronnie Bull (Un-attached, Free), Danny Cadamarteri (Un-attached, Free), Charlie Comyn-Platt (Swindon Town, Loan), James Coutts (Bournemouth, Loan), Gavin Cowan (Shrewsbury Town, Free), Chukki Eribenne (Weymouth), Vincent Fernandez (Nottingham Forest, Loan), Gavin Grant (Millwall, Loan ext.), Ben Harding (Milton Keynes Dons, Loan), Dean Howell (Weymouth), Ian Joyce (Seton Hall Pirates, Free), Sheku Kamara (Watford, Loan), Tom Kemp (Tamworth), Maheta Molango (Brighton, Free), Aaron O'Connor (Gresley Rovers, Undisc.), Chris Plummer (Peterborough United, Loan), Alex Rhodes (Brentford, Loan), Justin Richards (Peterborough United, Loan ext.), Anthony Tonkin (Yeovil Town, Loan), Tom Wilkinson (Lincoln City, Loan), Matt Bodkin (Welling United, Free), Scott Canham (Farnborough Town), Simon Downer (Weymouth), Abdou El Kholti (Weymouth), Adam Green (Un-attached, Free), Leroy Griffiths (Fisher Athletic, Loan), Will Hendry (Hayes), Pierre Joseph-Dubois (Un-attached, Free), Ashley Nicholls (Un-attached, Free), Djoumin Sangare (Lewes), John Turner (Un-attached, Free), David Wareham (Un-attached, Free), Mark Wright (Crawley Town, Loan recall), Jamie Slabber (Oxford United, Loan return)

OUT: Aaron McLean (Peterborough United, Loan), Stevland Angus (Torquay United, Free), Danny Cadamarteri (Leicester City), Chukki Eribenne (Gravesend & Northfleet, Loan), Michael Kightly (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nominal), Jamie Slabber (Stevenage Borough), Matt Bodkin (Thurrock, Loan), Lee Boylan (Chelmsford City, Loan), Gavin Cowan (Nuneaton Borough, Loan), Djoumin Sangare (St. Albans City, Loan), John Turner (Bishops Stortford, Loan), Mark Wright (Crawley Town, Loan), Ronnie Bull (Un-attached), Scott Canham (Un-attached), Nicky Eyre (Un-attached), Adam Green (Un-attached), Gary Hooper (Un-attached), Maheta Molango (Un-attached), Nathan Moulds (Un-attached), Justin Richards (Peterborough United, Loan recall), Ashley Sestanovich (Un-attached, Fired)