Bowers & Pitsea 1, Grays Athletic 2

GRAYS got back to winning ways with a Halloween evening victory at Bowers on Friday (31 October) evening in an incident-packed match.

The home side lost their keeper, Joseph Rowe Whitney, who was sent off inside the first minute.

After the ball had been pumped forward a Bowers clearance was charged down by Grays' Jack Stone and, dealing with it, Whitney was deemed to have handled outside the area and was given a red card.

That brought on Bowers youngster Harry Carter, who made his first team debut for Bowers between the posts and - despite his side's ultimate defeat -he made an impressive league debut that earned him a man of the match award.

The numbers were evened up after 16 minutes when Grays' Oscar Shelvey was given a straight red card for a late challenge on Jon Evans.

Carter made a couple of decent saves to deny Grays, but he was beaten on 28 minutes when Grays took the lead through Kye Jude. His first effort was parried by Carter but he followed up to head home.

Rene Batlokwa went close to an equaliser for Bowers when his sumptuous 35th minute free kick struck the bar.

And Grays built on that good fortune six minutes later when Jude grabbed his second, pouncing to head home after Harry Hope's corner posed problems for the home defence.

Both sides spurned chances in the second half before Ross Wall gave Bowers hope on 70 minutes, heading home after George Scales' cross troubled the Blues. 

But that was as good as it was to get for the hosts as Grays held on for a much-needed win.