Grays Athletic 0, Heybridge Swifts 2

GRAYS produced another disappointing performance against fellow surprise strugglers Heybridge Swifts in Saturday's (14 February) Isthmian North clash at Chadfields.

At the start of the season, neither side expected to be looking down rather than up but the table doesn't lie.

In a game that went ahead after an early-morning pitch inspection, Swifts won the match in a couple of mad minutes just before the half-time whistle.

In truth, it was a poor game, with both sides struggling to master the very heavy pitch but that said, Grays did very little to win the fixture, when a Herculean performance was required.

Neither side were particularly dominant in the early exchanges. For Blues, Ned Hepburn looked lively but his early cross found no Blue shirt in the six yard box to apply a finish. And Charlie Stimson really should have done better when presented with a one-on-one chance against visitors' keeper Tommy Dixon-Hodge, but his finish was tame.

Heybridge had long periods of possession, forcing a series of corners, with Milo Grimes out wide trying to break open the Blues defence, led as ever by Jordan Clark. The home side's attack seemed to rely on Casey Nolan-Samuels' long throw-ins but the Swifts' defence was well marshalled and repelled all borders.

Then with fans' minds turning to question of half-time tea or Bovril, the game turned on its head.

A Heybridge attack seemed to be going nowhere in particular, but the Grays defence suddenly went to sleep, leaving recently recruit from Tilbury, Tobias Braney, in acres of space and he required no second invitation to finish smartly into the corner of the net, to give the visitors a lead.

And just moments later, a long ball down the park, was headed back towards his keeper by Alex Moss, but George Marsh hesitated and Michael Salako nipped in, stealing the ball and tapping into the open net to make it 2-0.

Disaster for Blues, unbridled joy for Swifts.

The second half was mainly one of Heybridge looking to defend what they had and Grays trying to find a way through a determined Swifts defence, with Eyituoyo Akinbulomo particularly resolute. Blues fashioned a number of chances but it was more a case of feeding off scraps and looking for second balls from long throws rather than creating clear opportunities.

Tommy Dixon-Hodge, in the Swifts goal was also in fine form. His first intervention kept out a Manny Ogunrinde shot that he palmed round the post for a corner.

There wasn't much action at the other end, but when Salako broke clear, Sid Walker chased back and produced a perfectly-timed tackle to save the day.

Blues' task should have been made easier with 20 minutes left on the clock, when Jack Turner, recently on Grays' books, received his marching orders from referee Liam Giles, for a second yellow card offence. But the Heybridge bench used their resources well and changed things round quickly to make amends as best they could.

With ten minutes left, Grays suffered another injury blow, when Alex Moss, so resilient in recent weeks, went down awkwardly in an innocent-looking challenge and had to be stretchered off - later diagnosed as a fractured ankle.

Joe Paxman then twice created chances for Oscar Shelvey. The first he headed just over the bar and the second was superbly saved (again) by Dixon-Hodge. Deep into injury time, a Jordan Clark header hit a post. But in reality, it was all too little, too late.

So, Heybridge take the three points and give themselves a fighting chance of escaping the drop. For Blues, it is back to the drawing board.

Grays Ath ; Marsh, Nolan-Samuels, Walker, Moss (70, Wade), Clark, Ogunrinde, Shelvey, Stimson, Sartorius, Hepburn (87, Elegushi), Paxman

Grays' next outing is at third-placed Waltham Abbey next Saturday (21 February),