Grays to build on victory
Bridge road brickies were treated to a free feast of football as they raced to complete Blues’ ground on Tuesday night.
Whilst they mixed cement the action below them was far from sticky.
Mark Stimson’s energy packed team completed a demolition job on luckless local rivals Redbridge, who are still getting user to their name change from Ford.
While Bridge Road fans – enjoying their first home League game – marvelled at the major construction work going on long into the night, Grays set about their visitors with relish.
But Stimmo’s boys somehow managed to lose the initial advantage.
Former Spurs youth player Glenn Poole’s seventh minute strike wrong-footed Carl Emberson, although the Blues net minder did not put a foot wrong after this.
For the rest of the match the traffic was all one-way.
New signing John Nutter dovetailed with 2004-season sensation Freddy Eastwood, but it was another new boy Liam George whose runs and pace had the Redbridge backs bricking it.
Nutter pulled Grays level in the 23rd with a right foot scorcher, then in a two-minute flurry Blues despatched the visitors’ aspirations.
Good refereeing allowed Grays to take advantage of a visitors handball which fell nicely for Eastwood who hammered the ball in low and hard. Less than 100 seconds later it was Martin Carthy’s turn as he scored from a free-kick delivered by Dean Brennan.
The goal of the game was definitely George’s as he created panic in the visitors box just seconds into the second half, and poked the ball past luckless Jamie Lunan who was let down by a sub-standard defence. George could have boosted his tally to two a minute later with a diagonal ball from the left after he had beaten the full back.
But it was not always a game for the forwards. Eddie Youds is a rock at the back and made two or three key tackles, while Steve Robinson’s height and dedication were big advantages. Defender Joe Bruce looked out of sorts for parts of the game, but in general the performance against a less than terrifying Redbridge was over whelming.
Thanks to the Thurrock Gazette for the report.
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