Colin was one again forced to change the team around after our fantastic victory against Havant & Waterlooville, with Ryan Kirby suspended but Poole & Heffer fit again.

The game started brightly with Thurrock controlling the midfield but always wary of the pace of the Grays forwards from the long ball.

 After 9 minutes Dennis Oli got on the end of a long pass, out pacing the Thurrock defenders and hit a low shot which, Billy McMahon got a hand to but could not prevent it rolling into the net.

 From the restart Thurrock pressed for an equaliser. Cliff Akurang flicked the ball on to Kandol, who took too long to shoot, and could only find the left hand post and Grays managed to scramble the ball away. A blatant penalty was turned down when Steve West tried to pull McFarlane’s shirt off from a Thurrock corner and Goddard went close from another corner when his header just shaved the post.

 A long ball from defence saw Akurang pick the ball up 40 yards from goal he turned the Grays centre-half, Robinson, only to be crudely brought down 25 yards out. The referee did not see the incident but the Linesman had been flagging for about 30 seconds before the game was stopped, bizarrely the referee and linesman did not see fit to send Robinson off for the professional foul even though he was clearly the last man.

 Thurrock continued to press for the equaliser and were well on top when Poole, after finding himself in space coolly slotted home.

 Grays pace up front was beginning to cause us problems and Billy McMahon made two excellent saves.

 The second half started evenly before Grays took the lead in the 53^rd minute, poor marking lead to Steve West being left unmarked at the far post and had the simple job of nodding home.

 Akurang then got in behind the Grays defence and was clearly fouled in the box but managed to keep his footing when other would have surly gone down, Bayes pulled off a good save.

 Colin tried to change things around - the ineffective David Lee was replaced by Lee Hodges and Adam Parker made way for Kris Lee.

 Grays superior fitness was beginning to tell, with gaps opening up at the back and the pace of Oli and Griffith’s exploiting them. In the 80^th minute John Martin tuck the ball away with the Thurrock defence at sixes and sevens. Shortly afterward West was put through after McFarlane lost possession and he smashed the ball into the goal giving Billy McMahon no chance.

 Grays were on top now, twice managing to hit the woodwork before McMahon made another great save from West. Thurrock managed to regain their composure and put some pressure on the Grays defence that had looked shaky all afternoon, a Poole corner had Bayes flapping and Kandol headed home.

 Man of the Match: Glenn Poole