In a season of so many highs it was inevitable that Grays would hit some lows and the will be few lower points this season than Tuesday’s loss to bitter rivals Canvey Island.
Blues boss, Mark Stimson, was hoping to celebrate his 38th birthday in style with a win over the club he left in acrimonious style to join Grays but a lethargic display from his side left him leading the riot act instead.
Canvey’s teenage striker, Jason Hallett, had given his side a deserved first half lead but John Martin looked to have salvaged at least a point for the host when he finished off a flowing move involving Dennis Oli and Michael Kightly.
Having equalised, Grays piled on the pressure and looked the most likely side to score until the Islanders broke quickly and a horrible mistake from John Nutter allowed Jeff Minton to slot the ball home from close range.
”I’m very disappointed with the result and the performance,” said Stimson afterwards. “We had a 15 to 20 minute spell where we looked tidy but apart from that there were a few players out there who went missing on the big occasion.
”Perhaps some of the players are just not good enough. We had a fantastic start to the season, but it’s only a start and you have to have staying power to keep it going. There’s a lot of young players who will learn from it and will get better but it’s hard to rely on the young ones week in week out.
You put experienced players in and you expect them to help a few and when they don’t help you find it hard.
”First half I thought our two centre halves (Lee Matthews and Jamie Stuart) were still indoors, Canvey got through possibly six or seven time without scoring and it was just a matter of time before they scored and that’s our two most experienced players doing that.
”We got back into the game with a nice goal and you think maybe, but then the second goal was a comedy of errors. When I’ve finished watching it on the video I think I will send it on to Beadle.”
Stimson has every reason to be disappointed with his defence who were at sixes and sevens throughout the game with Matthews and Stuart being run ragged by the powerful Hallett, who, quite literally run himself into the ground.
The 19-year-old served notice of his intent after just 10 minutes when he span Matthews with worrying ease and forced a brilliant one-handed stop out of Nicky Eyre.
10 minutes later Hallett was embarrassing Matthews again when he collected Jon Keeling’s pass, skipped past the cumbersome centre-back and was only denied by another decent save from Eyre who spread himself well.
Sandwiched in between these opportunities was a great chance for Glenn Poole who was picked out at the back post by the lively Dennis Oli, but failed to even hit the target from 12 yards.
Oli then out-foxed Chris Duffy but could only scuff his shot wide when well placed and Martin came within inches of connecting with a Nutter cross-shot that flew dangerously across goal.
Eyre then denied the Gulls for the third time in the match when Hallett and Minton combined to play in Dwain Clark behind the Blues back line. The ex-Tottenham youngster was again quick from his line and his shear presence seemed enough to put off Clark who fired weakly into the arms of the Blue stopper.
But Eyre couldn’t bail out his defence four times in a row ad when Stuart and Nutter allowed Hallett to run in behind them, collect a Ben Sedgemore header and power into the box there was little he could do to stop the eventual shot from crashing into the top corner.
Oli should have restored parity seconds before the interval when he collected a long ball from Kightly and shrugged off the attentions of Steve Ward to bear down on goal.
But Oli has been on a barren run of late and as he approached the Canvey keeper Danny Potter, he never looked confident enough to find the back of the net. Instead the Gulls’ stopper and Jamie Slabber failed to reach the rebound.
Oli again went close when he span Ward after the interval and forced Potter into a save at the near post but Canvey weren’t unduly troubled until the 64th minute when the Blues strung the move of the game together.
Oli’s intricate footwork sucked in a posse of Gulls’ defenders, which enabled the front-man to slip the ball through to Kightly who was in acres of space on the right. Kightly then had the simple task of squaring the ball to Martin who rolled the ball home from close range.
The goal galvanised Grays and within minutes Slabber should have put them in front after more good play from Oli carved the Canvey defence open.
Slabber found himself clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat, but, like his strike partner before him, he never looked like he was going to net and instead stabbed his shot the wrong side of the post.
Canvey were tiring and there for the taking buy they mustered enough energy for a swift break forward involving Kezie Ibe and Dwain Clark and when the latter’s cross was missed completely by Nutter, Minton was on hand to coolly slot the ball past Eyre to stun the majority in Grays’ largest crowed of the season.
Slabber had a fantastic chance in the last minute of normal time when he was again played in by Oli, but Potter pulled off a great save to frustrate the striker and ensure his goal drought continued.
The 20-year-old hasn’t scored in any of the last 10 games while his strike partner Oli hasn’t found the net in the last 18 games, a worrying statistic for Stimson who feels both are showing their inexperience.
”I have to put it down to age because in training they look sharp, they look positive and it’s a matter of doing that in the game,” he said. “Jamie was unfortunate the keeper pulled off a very good save at the end, and on another day we could have scored a few more but then again so could they.”
Stimson’s front line will soon be boosted by the return of Tony Battersby who is just weeks away from full fitness and who, according to his manager, will be like a new signing.
Whether there will be any real signings in the forthcoming January transfer window is not yet clear as Stimson admits he’s finding it hard to bring the right players into the club.
”I would love to get two or three new players in but we know the financial structure of the club and we are not going to put the club in any silly position.
”We’ll have to try and work the market, but it’s difficult where do we improve the squad from here? For me it’s league players. League players have experience and are earning decent money and I don’t think at present we have that sort of month, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
Report by Ryan Goad
Thanks to The Thurrock Gazette for the report
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