Grays Athletic 5, Hullbridge Sports 1

GRAYS completed an emphatic FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round win on Sunday and will go again in the prestigious competition in a fortnight against Witham Town, who beat Hertford 2-1 on Saturday.

The first half foretold little about what would become a comfortable passage in the second half, with the Essex Senior League visitors,k who top their table after two emphatic season-opening wins, taking an early lead.

Just eight minutes had gone, including a moment when Grays thought they had scored only to see the ball strike a post and role across the face of the goal to safety, when Hullbridge broke down the right and Charlie Morris was handed the opportunity to tap in from close range when the ball was crossed.

However, the Blues were back on level terms on 20 minutes when they were awarded a penalty, which was finished off convincingly by Elliott Sartourius.

Six minutes later the home side were ahead when a shot from 30 yards out from Alejandro Machado rifled into the corner past the despairing dive of Luis Shamshoum.

Both sides had chances in the remaining 20 minutes but couldn't find a finish and it was 2-1 at half time.

But it took just a minute of the second stanza for Grays to increase their lead when Bobby Unwin cut in on his left foot and fired home.

Grays began to exert a degree of control, with Machado particularly impressive in midfield. He brought a fine save from Shamshoum with a blistering shot from distance and was then on hand to take advantage of hesitancy in the visiting defence on 73 minutes when tall defender and Sports captain Ollie Jenkins was rooted to the spot and Machado nipped in to sweep the ball home.

That was effectively game over and the icing on the cake for the majority of the 290 spectators came in the closing moments when Matas Skarna, who had produced a number of impish dribbles down the left flank after being brought on, found himself in the box to get a firm touch and redirect a ball into the box into the back of the net from close range.

After the match Grays manager Darren Manning paid tribute to his squad, saying they did well to adjust to the different routine of playing a Sunday match with a 1pm kick-off.

He said: ""Sometimes it's difficult to get players going in those circumstances but they were exceptional, their mentality was spot on from minute one.

"I don't think we were at our best in terms of in play and in possession but there was a spell in that game where the score could have been whatever we wanted it to be and that's purely down to their application and their mentality."

Grays will begin their Isthmian League North season with a trip to Mildenhall on Saturday (10 August).