Grays Athletic 3, Waltham Abbey 5

GRAYS ended up on the wrong end of an Isthmian North goalfest against high-flying Waltham Abbey on Saturday (25 January).

Defences at both ends regularly parted like the Red Sea and the lead swapped this way and that - with the final result only settled in the final few minutes of a crazy game. After the heroics at Felixstowe on Tuesday night, manager Darren Manning faced the same selection headaches, with the squad shorn of players through injury and suspension.

Waltham Abbey opened the scoring in just the sixth minute - a free kick into the penalty area wasn't dealt with by Blues and Lewwis Spence was left unmarked to drill the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Blues fought back quickly. From a Louie Remi long throw, the visitors' keeper Bradley Robinson dropped the ball but there was no Grays player on hand to profit. And Robinson was soon in action again, tipping an effort from Remi over the bar.

At the other end, Kymani Thomas brought a save from Danny Sambridge before Grays went into overdrive.

Remi took a quick free kick out on the left wing and defender Edwin Mensah slipped, allowing Luke Hirst to steer the ball home to equalise.

Prince Sikiru's great work then forced a corner from which Alex Moss's effort was cleared off the line by the much-travelled Nathan Korateng. But Blues weren't to be denied and, just after the half hour, they produced the best goal of the game with a fine array of one-touch passes before Sikiru's cross was finished at close range by Samir Ali, his first for the club and giving Grays a 2-1 lead.

But it was to be a short-lived advantage as the home defence went missing.

A free kick from the lively Koranteng was met by the head of Spence for his second of the game, to level the scores again at 2-2.

And then a quick brace by Luke Deslandes completely changed the game again. The first when he evaded his marker from an Aaron Eyoma set-piece and the second when he was allowed the freedom of the penalty area to make it 4-2 to the visitors.

Chances continued to flow in the second half. A Matas Skarna corner was well met by Alex Moss, before the same player cleared off the line at the other end from Kymani Thomas. Kenedi Dariri then showed his skill with a run the length of the pitch to force yet another corner for Blues.

The visitors started to look concerned when Grays eventually got another goal back - Alejandro Machado flicking on the umpteenth corner for Hirst to head home his second of the game, making it 4-3.

And the panic intensified when Mensah misdirected a header back to his keeper, leaving Robinson to scramble back to palm the ball round the post. Indeed, they should have levelled the score when Joe Agunbiade, back in a Blue shirt after time playing elsewhere, pulled his shot into the side netting.

At the other end, Waltham Abbey remained dangerous though. A Kymani Thomas long run was only stopped by some fine chasing back by Remi before sub Nicholas Brown fired over the bar from a Koranteng long throw.

However, the game was settled with five minutes left on the clock when a scramble in the Grays area was turned in by Prince Domafriyie to make it 5-3 to the visitors. Their wild celebrations at the goal showed just how much they had been under the cosh and relieved to secure the victory.

Overall, it was a strange game, with Grays dominant for periods but Waltham Abbey always able to show their class on the ball.

Too often though, Blues were let down by poor defending, leaving manager Darren Manning exasperated at the final whistle.

Watch his post-match response here:

Grays are back in action quickly, entertaining Basildon Unitid on Tuesday.