Brightlingsea Regent 5, Grays Athletic 0

GRAYS Athletic boss Mark Stimson fielded the club's under 23 side in last night's (Tuesday, 12 September ) Isthmian Velocity Cup tie at Brightlingsea Regent and the youngsters got a rude awakening about life at senior level – compounded by a red card for Mekhi Stanford-Clarke midway through the second half.

By then the match was already lost after Regent stormed into a three-goal half time lead and immediately after the restart Devante Davis had added a fourth.

Olly Sotoyinbo scored the opening goal via an eleventh minute penalty and he added a second on 29 minutes.

Babu Ombok added to the score sheet five minutes before the break.

In the 63rd minute things went from bad to worse for the Blues when Mekhi Stanford-Clarke, who made his senior Blues debut in the Essex Senior Cup win at Concord Rangers earlier this year, received a red card.

Regent finished the job off with a goal from Zak Littlejohn three minutes from time.

Blues fans will be hoping for better things when the seniors fill the shirts on Saturday (16 September) when Grays entertain Bury Town in the Isthmian North at Tilbury's EMR Stadium (3pm).