No goals but Grays roll on
It may have been after the Lord Mayor’s show, but Grays took another step towards the Conference South title with a hard-fought draw at Nyewood Lane on Tuesday.
Bognor, mid-table but still with a slim chance of reaching the play-offs, scrapped for every ball and became the first team to stop Blues scoring on their travels since Weston-Super-Mare in September.
But the point extended Grays’ unbeaten League run to 11 games since Christmas and maintained their commanding 13-point advantage over second-placed Cambridge, who drew 2-2 at Lewes.
Blues boss Mark Stimson said: “If people were expecting us to repeat Saturday’s performance against Exeter, then they were probably being a bit optimistic.
”Bognor played very well and they wouldn’t be so far down the league if the played like that every week. It’s another point for us – definitely a point gained away from home.”
David Piper came closest to breaking the deadlock for Bognor, bouncing a shot off the top of Ashley Bayes’ crossbar with the keeper beaten after only seven minutes.
Neither side looked like scoring again until the 34th minute when Aaron McLean’s shot was cleared off the Rock’s goal-line by Kevin Murphy.
Seconds later, Richard Hudson went down injured amid claims that a Grays player had elbowed him in the face, but the officials took no action beyond awarding a free-kick.
Bognor survived a triple scare six minutes before the break. Stuart Thurgood saw his shot blocked out to Tony Battersby whose follow-up effort rebounded back off a post before Craig Stoner saved Gary Hooper’s header.
Scouts from Championship promotion-chasers Sunderland & Reading were among those keeping tabs on the exciting Hooper and fellow wide-man Mitchell Cole.
That this was not of the dynamic duo’s most explosive performances was down to Bognor’s determination rather than any lack of application by the two teenagers or their team-mates, whose attitude could not be faulted.
Both showed fleeting glimpses of the form that has made them such hot property and McLean might have done better after great work by Hooper seven minutes into the second half.
Murphy spurned a gilt-edged chance to pinch all the points for Bognor, but only a last-ditch challenge by Darren Budd prevented Vill Powell capitalising on a piece of classic Cole wizardry in stoppage time.
The loud cheer that greeted the final whistle told you what the Rocks’ faithful thought of their teams’ gritty performance and gave another indication of how highly Grays are rated in non-league circles these days.
Only a catastrophic collapse can prevent at least one piece of major silverware coming to Bridge Road this season.
Promotion was always Grays’ priority, but the prospect of a remarkable double looms ever closer.
Report by Matthew James
Thanks to the Thurrock Gazette for the report.
|