Emm

April 2015 recap.

League Home. Gray 1 Eastleigh 0. Goal, Davis Thomas.

League Away. Grays 1 Gloucester 2. Goal, Paul Moore.

League Home. Grays 0 Margate 1. Red card Ian Chapman.

League Away. Grays 0 Lewes 1.

League Home. Grays 0 Gravesend 1.

League Away. Grays 0 Hitchen 0.

The board are now just pleased with my performance :thup: :thdn:.

The club made a profit of £15,510 last month :thup:.

We really fell apart there and now I have the mammoth job of getting the players up for the play-offs. They are young and experienced and pretty tired now as well. A month ago we had just given up on automatic promotion but were almost quaranteed a play-off spot. We managed to sneak it in the end but a run of 5 games without a win and 4 games without a goal makes pretty poor reading .

Emm

Barnet Recap.

Despite my missgivings about the ability and character of Brian Borrows, Barnet storm to a respectable 14th placed finish in League 1 as they lose only 1 of their last 11 games :eek:. Francis Mead who had joined us on a long term loan from the Bees has made his move permanent. Francis has racked up 31 appearances at U21 level for Wales, (scoring 6 goals), and his versatility was a key factor in his signing. He has natural ability in 5 different positions. Borrows has released some of the youth team who are deemed surplout to requirements, but otherwise it is all quiet on the transfer front.

Emm

Conference South Playoff Semi Final Leg 1.

Apart from up front, I am just about able to select my strongest starting team. Eyres in goal, skipper White and penalty king Matthews at full back, and Francis Mead and Chris Charles at the heart of defence. Miller plays on the left and Bennett on the right, Battersby and Hughes Snr play in the middle. Up front, 17 year old Paul Moore is the senior striker as he is joined by Gary Peters.

It's a pretty tight game and finished 0-0, but it is not without it's dramas. Penalty taking left back Chris Matthews pulls his hamstring after only 5 minutes and is taken off on a stretcher. It looks quite bad and even if we progress, the season is over for him. Our luck seemed to return after a leave of absence when Eastleigh were awarded a penalty on the hour mark but could not hit the target. I was delighted with a clean sheet, and satisfied I suppose with a draw. On a negative note, Nicky Eyre finished the game hobbling and will be doubtful for the 2nd leg .

Emm

Conference South Playoff Semi Final Leg 2.

Francis Mead got the scoring underway from the spot after 15 minutes and Paul Bennett put us in a comfortable position late in the first half. Eastleigh threw everything at us late on but I think we were always in control with the away goal situation. In the dying moments, Eastleigh were awarded a penalty and possible had a chance. Nicky Eyre was up to the task and tipped the ball over the bar. It was to be a vital save as Eastleigh did score as the ref seemed to add on a huge amout of injury time. When he eventually blew the final whistle, we still led 2-1. Even if that penalty had gone in, we would have won on away goals............ wouldn't we..... ???

Nicky Eyre was playing on pain killing injections and dragged us into the next round with a MOM performance. That's it for him as he will take no further part in the campaign. He's got us this far. We'll have to do the rest without him.

Emm

Conference South Playoff Final.

We meet Chelmsford and I am concerned. The only fit keeper we have at the club is Jonathan Briggs. Jonathan is 17 years old and has not played a senior game yet. Indeed when Nicky Eyre was injured a few months ago, I opted to bring two keepers in on trial rather than blood him in the senior team. There is no time for loans and no money or wages for transfers. Jonathan will make his debut in The Conference South Playoff Final :eek:.

Briggs makes his debut in goal, Scott Clark come in at left back for Matthews and I withdraw one of the strikers and play Kevin Morgan as a sweeper in an attempt to give Briggs a little more protection. 17 year old Paul Moore will play up front on his own.

It's all square in a really tight game with half an hour left. Chelmsford take the lead when Briggs fails to clear and he is robbed of posession. Centre back Francis Mead thumps home a header from a corner to level it up and we move into extra time. Within 4 minutes they are in front again, but their lead does not last as Francis Mead is again the saviour as he converts from the spot in the 109th minute for his 3rd goal in 2 games. Within 2 minutes however, Chelmsford have a penalty of their own and I feel our season is about to end. All that stands between us and penalties and a chance to prolong our season and keep alive our dreams of promotion, is a snotty nosed kid who is making his debut and has already cost us 1 goal .

Their left back steps up
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SAVED! .
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17 year old Jonathan Briggs has saved a penalty on his debut, that keeps alive our slim hopes of promotion.

He's engulfed by the other players but there is still 9 minutes to play. We hold out as both sets of players look ansolutely shattered and we head for the lottery that is a penalty shootout.

Briggs has already saved a penalty during extra time, and Mead has converted one. Surely this must be a sign of things to come.

We won the toss and decided to take our penalties first. The idea was to try and heap as much pressure as possible on to the Chelmsford players.

Miller stepped up................................. and scored :thup:.

The Chelmsford left back who saw his spot kick saved in extra time is going to take the first one. Saved by Briggs. He's saved a 2nd spot kick!! :eek:. The poor Chelmsford player looks like he wants the ground to open up and swallow him.

Francis Mead is next for Grays .......................... get in. Good penalty :thup:.

The second Chelmsford player steps up.......................he's put it wide ! Awful penalty. Briggs did enough to put him off.

Next up for Grays is midfielder Dave Adams........................ Saved in style by the keeper :thdn:. Grays still lead 2-0 though

3rd spot kick for Chelmsford......................................Go al, Briggs is sent the wrong way.

Steve Pearce is next up for Grays..................................Goal :thup:. It's 3-1 now to The Grays.

Chelmsford's 4th spot kick. They need to score this to stay in the game............................ Missed :p! He's put it over. Briggs managed somehow to put him off.

Grays have won and are through to the Final of the Conference Playoffs.

What a game! I still can't believe we won. From hero to villain in one game. Briggs gifts them their opener, saves a penalty to force a shootout and then only concedes 1 of 4 spot kicks! Legend in the making, surely.

Emm

Conference North/South Final.

Grays 3 Guiseley 1.

After the titanic tussle that was the Conference South Playoff Final, the Conference North/South Final is somewhat of anti-climax. I revert to a 442 as Guiseley seem nowhere near as strong as I expected. There seems to be quite a different in class between the North and South Leagues

John Kavanagh scores his first goal for the club from the spot after only 4 minutes and we are in control. Steve Pearce adds a 2nd with 20 minutes left and although they claw one back, Steve again restores our 2 goal buffer and we have won promotion to The Conference .

Emm

********NEWSFLASH******** 16th May 2016.

Emm

********NEWSFLASH******** 16th May 2015.

GRAYS BOARD PRAISE KAVANAGH

The Grays board have announced that they are pleased to have won promotion and that everyone at the club was looking forward to seeing the team play at a higher level next season.

In a short message of thanks, a spekesperson declared that praise had to go to manager Jim Kavanagh for ensuring that a club of Grays' stature would no longer be playing in the English Conference South.

Emm

Grays Athletic end of season awards.

Fans Player Of The Year. Gary Battersby.

Top Goalscorer. Peter Jones 20.

Top League Goalscorer. Peter Jones 16.

Most Assists. Gary Battersby 10.

Highest Average Rating. Gary Battersby 6.81 (36 appearances).

Most Man of Match. Peter Jones 4.

Emm

Despite performing heroics in the Conference South Playoff Final, Jonathan Briggs will not be with the club next season. His youth contract has expired and he will not be offered a new one.

Also leaving the club are squad defenders Joe Bruce (31) and Big Tony Jackson (22). Neither is good enough for the step up in class.

Senior players Dennis Oli and Adam Miller are told that they are surplus to requirements. I was keen to off-loan Dennis from the start but since his injury, he just not recovered to a degree where I consider him effective. Miller on the other hand has played a part in 37 games this season, but he's lost his pace and a winger with no pace is about as useful as a .............

Strikers David Thomas and Kevin Nolan and Ben Saunders have all been put on the transfer list. Saunders is valued at £110,000 so I am hoping that I might be in for a little windfall.

Bit part players, Kevin Little, Kevin Byrne, Gary Keen and Jay Crawford will also either be released, sold or have their contacts paid off.

Our current wage total is £3886 per week. £286 over budget. Selling Oli will be a big help as he is still being paid £700 per week. His 5 goals and 12 appearances do not warrant that sort of outlay.

During the close seasom I will be looking to bring a number of players to strengthen the squad. A second keeper is a must, as is a big strong striker who can lead the line. I was also net that impressed with my wide players last term. On the left, Miller is out of the running and Leech is very inexperienced. On the right, Hughesy Jnr is not yet the ticket and Hall was out injured for so long that it's hard to form an opinion. Really I need to rebuild from scratch, but I am not sure that I will have the wage budget to entice the required talent.