Emm

********NEWSFLASH******** 28th February 2015.

Kavanagh signs 3rd Kavanagh to bring family at club to 4.

Grays manager Jim Kavanagh, today unveiled his latest signing. 19 year old striker John Kavangh has signed on a free transfer from league 2 Burnley where he made his league debut earlier this year. Kavanagh, a prolific scorer at youth level, and an Irish U21 International, preferred to sign for him namesake rather than risk obscurity with lower league Witton Albion.

He joins 2 other Kavanagh's at The Rec.

Damien Kavanagh is an ambitious 18 year old defensive midfielder who has yet to make an appearance in the senior team after joining from Premiership giant Liverpool in the Summer.

Derek Kavanagh is very ambitious and also 18 years old. The young winger has appeared from the bench on 5 occasions since his transfer from Premiership Tottenham in the close season.

It is also rumoured, that 36 year old fitness coach Stephen Kavanagh, currently working under Brian Borrows at Barnet is considering a move from Underhill to The Rec.

A 2nd Stephen Kavanagh is on the books at Barnet. The 20 year old Irish U21 keeper was linked with a loan move to Grays, but turned down the offer.

Colin Kavanagh, the 45 year old Ireland U21 manager has not been linked with either Barnet or Grays, but commented that he was keeping an eye on some of the talented Kavanagh youngsters.

48 year old Moor Green Physio, Jimmy Kavanagh said he would love to join the Kavanagh revolution currently taking place in Grays, however Grays manager Jim Kavanagh seemed less keen.

Young hopefulls Tony Kavanagh and John Kavanagh spent time at The Rec on trial earlier this year, but were not offered a contract and are both currently looking for new clubs.

With both Liverpool and Leicester also currently having young Kavanagh's in their youth setup, it would appear that the Kavanagh footballing dynasty is in safe hands :thup:.

Emm

February 2014 recap.

League Away. Grays 3 Hendon 1. Goals, Peter Jones (2), Ben Saunders.

League Home. Grays 2 Gloucester 2. Goals, Chris Matthews (pen), Gary Battersby.

League Away. Grays 0 Salisbury 1.

League Home. Grays 1 Weymouth 1. Goal, Chris Matthews (pen).

League Away. Grays 2 Havant & Waterlooville 0. Goals, Chris Matthews (pen), Peter Graham. Red card, Paul O'Toole.

The Grays board are delighted with my performance :thup:.

The club recorded a loss of £1,054 last month :thdn:.

Emm

Barnet recap.

Despite me missgivings about a certain Brian Borrows, Barnet pulled a series of tremendous results out of the bag in February. 4 wins from 5 games is an amazing turnaround and sees them move up to 21st place and only 1 point adrift of the last team in safety. Striker Ramon Calliste banged in 5 goals in 5 games and the returning Bobby Walsh chipped in with 3. Recent signing Aaron Allanson played impressively in the middle of the pitch, as did Jordan Fitzpatrick. Craig Gill has taken over in goal from the injured Paul Jones and seems to be doing well. With their next 3 games being against fellow strugglers, a continued run of good form could see them climb clear of the relegation battle.

Emm

9th placed Folkestone are our next visitors. While I am hopeful that Peter Graham will recover from his dead leg in time to start, I will have to do without Hughesy Snr and Paul O'Toole who are both suspended. Peter Graham does in fact recover and even scores for the 2nd game running to level the game just before half time. Folkestone have a player sent off with about 20 minutes to go and young Gary Peters grabs all 3 points with his 3rd goal of the season late on.

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Away to Kettering, we again go behind to an early goal. Like last week we fight back. This time it is just after half time and Dennis Oli who gets his 5th goal of an injury plagued campaign.
Our mini revival is derailed and our unbeaten run of 4 games comes to an end. Welling win an even game by 2 goals and my squad is looking jaded. Some of my young players have simply played too many games. They desperately nees a rest.

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I give the first choice players one last chance to rouse themselves but it is no good. While we didn't concede, we didn't score either and an Oli header that crashed back off the crossbar is the closest we came to breaking the deadlock against Chelmsford.

Emm

March 2015 recap.

League Home. Grays 2 Folkestone 1. Goals, Peter Graham, Gary Peters.

League Away. Grays 1 Kettering 1. Goal, Dennis Oli.

League Away. Grays 0 Welling 2.

League Home. Grays 0 Chelmsford 0.

The Grays board are still delighted with my performance as manager :thup:.

The club recorded a loss of £6,076 last month :thdn:.

We've dropped to 3rd in the league and things are getting really tight at the tip. Chelmsford lead us by 2 points, Weymouth by 1 and Havant & Waterlooville are level on points and goal difference but behind on goals scored. Eastleigh are also chasing hard only 1 point behind.

Pos......Team...................Played.Won......Dr awn...Lost....For.....Against. Diff.....Points.
1st.......Chelmsford.............40.......19...... ....16........5.......55........35........20...... ..73
2nd......Weymouth..............40.......20........ ..13........7.......55........36........19........ 72
3rd.......Grays Athletic.........40.......20..........12........8.......59 ........38........21........72
4th.......Havant & Waterloo...40.......21...........9........10...... 54........33........21........72
5th.......Eastleigh................40.......18.... .......17.......5.......40.........24........16... .....71

With 6 games remaining it is all to play for. Five teams all in with a chance of the league and the automatic single automatic promotion place. The rest, destined to fight their way through the playoffs.

Emm

Barnet recap.

Brian Borrows is continuing to work his magic. The Bees are undefeated in March and have climbed up to the relative safety of 18th position. Three draws and a solitary win is not the form of champions, but it not the form of a team to be relegated either. Loanee Bobby Walsh impressed with a hat-trick in the sole win and Ramon Calliste chipped in with a brace during March, despite missing a game on International duty with Wales. Jonathan D'Laryea impressed in the middle of the pitch this month and has now played 41 games this season. With 6 games left, The Bees are 3 points and 3 positions clear of the relegation zone. They only have to play one of their remaining games against any of the top performing sides so they should be confidant. The only problem with games such as the penultimate against 22nd placed Scunny is that a loss not only doesn't add to their total, but gives their oppositin 3 valuble points. That this game is also away could be key.

Emm

I've deceided to change the starting line-up completely in order to shake some life back into my very tired squad. Nicky Eyre is fit enough to play in goal after recovering from injury, 18 year old Damien Kavanagh will make his debut in the middle of the pitch and 19 year old John Kavanagh will make his debut up front alongside Welshaman David Thomas. The rest of the team is picked from fringe squad players with the exception of Gary Battersby who retains his place in the middle. A 1-0 victory is good enough for me as John Kavanagh sets up David Thomas for the only goal of the game.

2nd placed Weymouth beat top of the table Chelmsford and we beat 5th placed Eastleigh. With 4th placed Havant & Waterlooville also losing it's a good weekend all round. We're now up to 2nd, still 1 point behind Weymouth, but now have a gap of 2 points to 3rd placed Chelmsford. Winger Paul Bennett and striker David Thomas both picked up knocks and are not in contention for the next game, away to 6th placed Gloucester :thdn:.

Emm

[QUOTE]********NEWSFLASH******** 6th April 2015

SHAWCROSS' FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL PLEA

Fulham's Ryan Shawcross has told a journalist that he wants to be playing first-team football.

The 27 year old central defender is demanding to be selected for the first-team on a regular basis if his manager, David Cross wants to keep him at Craven Cottage.
[/QUOTE]

Shawcross has never been the most intelligent of footballers. He left Barnet at the end of the 2012/13 season, to join Fulham on a free, only to see them finish below the Bees and be relegated the following season. He now finds himself playing in a division below his old team-mates. Fulham are currently on target for a return to League 1 and that should soothe his temper somewhat. In terms of not being a regular first-teamer, Ryan has played 45 times foe the Fulham first team this season, but has only added 1 cap to his Welsh tally. Maybe that is the main reason for his current state of mind.

Maybe he should have stayed at Underhill . .

Emm

Sorry about that last post. Maybe you can't print in bold within a quote .

Emm

Nicky Eyre makes his 400th league appearance for Grays in this vital match against Gloucester, but any hopes of a big celebration are put on hold when we concede an early goal. Young Paul Moore making his first start scores his 2nd senior goal for the club to even things up. We concede again just before half time and have it all to do. We don't manage to get an equaliser and to be honest, are only in with a shout due to the excellence of Nicky Eyre. We're down to 3rd again and are now trailling Weymouth by 4 points. I've had a look at their remaining fixtures and I think we've just about blown it. Two of their 4 remaing games are against the bottom 2 teams in the league and the other 2 are against mid-table teams with nothing to play for. Play-offs here we come I think.

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After losing away at Gloucester, we follow it up with a 1-0 loss at home to Margate. They try to help us with a player being sent off after only 10 minutes, but we still don't manage a single shot on target in the whole match. Sub Ian Chapman is shown a 2nd yellow card only 8 minutes after coming on and the team produce the worst display under my management. We look completely inneffectual up front and are really starting to miss Peter Jones . No matter what combination I use, I do not seem to be able to find a regular scorer in the whole squad.

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Two losses on the bounce is turned into three as Lewes dispatch us 1-0 in a tight game. The second loan striker Peter Graham is injured and adds to my goal scoring woes. A run of 3 losses is quickly converted to 4 as Gravesend beat us 1-0 at home with a winner in injury time. We were pretty good in this game and deserved at least a draw if not the win. The problem is that our young strike force are just not up to scratch.

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With one game remaining, there is a serious danger that we will not even make the play-offs. We've lost our last 4 games and have failed to score in the last 3. It is imperative that we get something from the last game of the season against rock bottom Hitchin. We scrape a 0-0 draw and it is just enough as 6th placed Gloucester are beated at home to Wellin. We clinch the last remaining play-off spot by 1 point.

Pos...Team................Played.Won......Drawn... Lost....For...Against. Diff.....Points.
1st....Weymouth...........46......24..........15.. .......7......63........37.......26.......87....
2nd...Eastleigh.............46......22..........18 .........6......48........26.......22........84... .
3rd....Havant.&.Water....46.....23...........11... .....12.....61........39.......22.......80.....
4th....Chelmsford..........46......20...........18 ........8......59........43.......16.......78.....
5th....Grays Athletic......46.....21...........13........12.....61..... ...43.......18.......76.....