Grays comfortably moved through to the fourth round of the Essex Senior Cup when they beat the home side 4-1 last Wednesday.
Following the demise of Hornchurch FC, the Blues were fielding four ex-Urchins in Steve West, Ashley Bayes, Lee Mathews and Jamie Stuart.
The Blues were dominant for the duration of the game and took the lead after only 35 seconds when West headed the ball onto ex Cambridge United and QPR striker Dennis Oli who slotted the ball past the Hawks keeper from close range.
Hawks began to get into the game but not before their busy keeper had been tested twice by Vil Powell.
Although Harlow had a fair amount of possesion they lacked the creativity to muster up anything more than a couple of half chances.
Just after the halfway mark and against the run of play Grays extended their lead from some goo inter-play by Martin Carthy and Powell to setup West who tapped the ball into the net.
Harlow narrowly escaped giving away a penalty when Powell was taken out by the Hawks keeper. This seemed to wake the losing side as they bulled one back when un-marked ex-Blues player Toby Oshitola nudged the ball home at the near post.
On the stroke of half-time Blues restored their two goal lead when Oli crossed the ball from the right flank to Mitchell Cole, who had ample time to fire t home from 18-yards.
After a fairly eventful first half the second proved to be an exercise in damage limitation for the Hawks defence.
On the 50th minute Blues made their first substitution, replacing Oli with utility player Gavin Heeroo.
Grays thought they had a fourth but Carthy's headed goal was disallowed due to a foul.
Blues manager, Mark Stimson made his second substitution of the evening bringing on Tony Battersby for Powell, and Battersby wasted no time in scoring his second goal for the club.
Blues had another great chance when West cannoned the ball from 25-yards, only to be denied by the bar.
Grays are kicked out of cup
Grays have been kicked out of the Essex Senior Cup after fielding inelgible players in their recent 4-1 win at Harlow.
The competition rules state that players have to be signed seven days prior to a match to play, and Blues failed to adhere to the rules, prompting an apology and lament from secretary Phil O'Reily.
He said: "I would like to apologise to the club and fans, especially those of you that made the journey on that cold windy night.
"However, in my own defence I would like you all to know that I was in fact following the rules of the Football Association: in that you can sign players to play in the world's oldest cup competition the FA Cup, and indeed the FA Trophy up until midday on the Friday before the Saturday game.
"I therefore find it strange that that County FA have not kept pace with the Football Association, after all the county do require clubs to field their strongest available team in all rounds."
Thanks to the Thurrock Gazette for the report.
|