Concord Rangers v Grays Athletic LIVE
Concord Rangers 3-2 Grays Athletic
Canvey Island 4-0 Witham Town
Carshalton Athletic 0-1 East Thurrock United
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FULL TIME: And the curtain comes down on an absolute thriller. Concord take their place in the Semi’s with three well taken goals and some decent individual performances. But Grays take the glory with a fabulous never say die spirit, which almost forced an unlikely but deserved extra time.
Hope you enjoyed tonight’s proceedings. Merry Christmas!
92 mins – GOAL! ….. Concord Rangers 3, GRAYS ATHLETIC 2 Ooh, have I spoken too soon. A cross on the right, and PAUL OLIMA meets it on the edge of the area to again halve the deficit. Superb stuff here at Thames Road.
Injury time And the Grays supporters drift off. They feel hard done by from the ref. They may have a point.
87 mins – GOAL! ….. CONCORD RANGERS 3, Grays Athletic 1 Yet another free kick on the left, but this time STEVE KING leaps like a salmon – a slightly overweigh salmon, but a salmon nonetheless – to head hom and make the game safe, to lots of booage from the sizeable Grays support. Game, sadly, over.
85 mins – Kenny Beaney does the same thing and also gets a yellow. Once again the free kick is cleared but then Tony Stokes drives forward on his own, only to be blocked inside the area when he looked set to shoot.
83 mins – Harry Agombar gets a yellow after conceding a free kick on the left hand edge of the Grays penalty area. It’s easily cleared, though, when play resumes.
81 mins – Grays Paul Olima is allowed to turn on the edge of the box, he passes back to Craig Pope, and his cross on the right is headed just wide of the far post.
79 mins – Another dangerous Joao Carlos run down the left but this time he just runs the ball out as he gets to the Beach Boys bye line.
77 mins – Concord come again down the right, the ball is crossed to the edge of the six yard box, and Steve King’s goalbound header is superbly palmed away by Andy Hall. Grays are still in this!
75 mins – substitution Grays Anthony Ryan is replaced by Charlie Brien
73 mins – How close was that to an equaliser?! Grays find space down the left and Joao Carlos shoots, only for Andy Young to block it. From the rebound, the ball is crossed inside the six yard box, and Jared Small appears to head home – onky for it to be cleared off the line. What a cup tie!
72 mins – I do love my references to juvenile animated programmes and Nicky Cowley provides it. His description of the referee’s decision is something Butthead used to say to Beavis after a bout of stupidity. It started with ‘dumb’. Chortle.
70 mins – Tony Ryan for Grays disposesses Kurt Robinson on the right, and further pressure leads to a corner, which Andy Young just about does enough to clear.
67 mins – Great link up play between both Elmeses and Stokes on the right ends with a shot going across the face of goal. If they’d looked up, though, Arthur Lee was central and completely unmarked.
63 mins – GOAL! ….. Concord Rangers 2, GRAYS ATHLETIC 1 Wow! Do we have a match on our hands here! Superb run down the left by Jared Small, he gets to the byeline inside the area, shoots, and it’s turned in by a home defender KURT ROBINSON. Game on!
61 mins – James Elmes thinks he’s found himself alone in the area. He shoots, only to find a Grays outstretched leg block the shot superbly.
58 mins – substitution – Concord’s Ashley Miller is replaced by Dan Olamide Scott – Durojayie. Which Tony the PA man done very well to say without stumbling once.
57 mins – sending off for Grays Athletic Ooh, a controversial one this. The ref adjudges that Brad Thomas was the last man when he hauled down Tony Stokes on the edge of the area. It looked harsh to say the least. The free kick rebounds off the wall but it’s north face of the Eiger time for Grays.
55 mins – substitution Concord’s Sherwin Stanley is replaced by Tony Stokes
54 mins – Junior Baker goes on one of his surging runs from his own half, from him the ball gets played to the edge of the area, but Grays just can’t get a shot in.
51 mins – Blimey guys, give me time to breath, let alone type! Back come Concord, they have their own free kick on the right and, yet again, Tony Stokes finds spoace, this time on the right hand side from the area, and volleys just over the bar from a tight angle. Corking stuff.
50 mins – Back come the visitors. Another free kick, in a more or less identical position as last time. This time Harry Agombar goes for goal, but Andy Young takes it cleanly at the near post.
49 mins – That Tony Stokes is always such a threat, and once again finds space inside the left hand side of the penalty area. His shot from 8 yards out, though, is easily saved by Andy Hall, who had his near post well covered.
47 mins – A Grays free kick on the left hand touchline, from about 30 yards out, causes momentary panic, is cleared to the edge of the area, but then the incoming shot goes high and wide.
8.51pm - KICK OFF! Again
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HALF TIME: And almost on the whistle Grays miss a wonderful chance to halve the deficit. A corner causes panic and from the edge of the six yard box, in line with the far post, the shot is somehow put wide.
A pity, as Grays deserve something. The Beach Boys were well worth their two goal lead in the first 25 minutes or so butr since then the Ryman One North side have been the better side. The next goal, as ever, as crucial.
Great news from Canvey and East Thurrock matches, too, some time for a festive Bovril and pie. Laters.
Concord – Grays HT (right click then save link / target to download)
40 mins – Have to say, since the second goal, Grays have been much the better side. Especially impressive has been Brad Thomas, who seems to have this innate ability to know exactly what to do at exactly the right time.
35 mins – Great news from Surrey as East Thurrock United take what could be a priceless lead. Get. In. There.
34 mins – A Harry Agombar shot goes narrowly wide from about 20 yards. The visitors have certainly not given this one up, and neither have their supporters. Junior Baker hasn’t, too, although his subswquent crack at goal, on the left from 30 yards, was in danger of smashing a clubhouse window,
30 mins – Grays, to their credit, have re-gathered and from decent work dowen the right, attacking the clubhouse goal, a cross comes in and Joao Carlos fails by inches to get his head to it, unamrked and inside the six yard box.
26 mins – More good news from Park Lane. Canvey Island double their lead over Witham through Jason Hallett. The Island Derby cup final is on!
23 mins – GOAL! ….. CONCORD RANGERS 2, Grays Athletic 0 The warning just a minute ago wasn’t heeded. This time it was ASHLEY MILLER who took advantage of space on the right hand edge of the area and he shoots home into the far post corner of the net from a tight angle.
22 mins – Having said that though, Concord retort with some good movement down the right, Tony Stokes finds plenty of space in the area, but places his shot just past the left hand post.
20 mins – A real let off for Concord. Grays retrieve the goal kick and force a corner on the left. They appear to have equalised from a header inside the six yard box but the ref blows up for a foul on keeper Andy Young. This is warming up nicely now, with Grays starting to get the upper hand.
19 mins – Nice move from Grays this time. Joao Carlos gets involved on the left inside the area, and Junior Bakers’s shot goes wide of the right hand post.
16 mins – Nice vision by James Elmes. About 22 yards from goal, he spots Ryan Ware creeping into space on the left hand bye line, crosses, and his header flashes across the face of goal.
6 mins – An early goal rush on the island. Canvey take the lead in the cup match with Witham through Danny Heale.
5 mins – Grays are unstandably shell shocked, and after an initial thrust forward, the home side attack again, scorer Stokes passes on the right hand edge of the area to Ashley Miller, but he shanks it well wide.
41 seconds – GOAL! ….. CONCORD RANGERS 1, Grays Athletic 0 Wow, what a start! A great through ball finds TONY STOKES totally unmarked inside the Grays half. He runs unchallenged into the penalty area and smashes the ball into the roof of the net from 15 yards. Liquid football.
7.49pm – KICK OFF! Oh yeah baby!
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Lovely
Team News: Grays Athletic go with: Andy Hall, Craig Pope, Junior Baker, Brad Thomas, Kenny Beaney, Harry Agombar, Joao Carlos, Paul Olima, Anthony Ryan, Joe Sweeney, Stanley Muguo. Subs: Louis Denno, Jared Small, Joe McEvoy, Charlie Brien, Ally Akjoy
Team News - Concord Rangers line up with: Andrew Young, Ashley Miller, Kurt Robinson, Nicky Cowley, Steve King, Ryan Tafazolli, James Elmes, Arthur Lee, Sherwin Stanley, Ryan Ware, Tony Stokes. Subs: Lee White, Harry Elmes, Daniel Olamide Scott-Durojaiye, James Dudley.
7.42pm – Just to digress a bit, police have arrested a 33 year old man from Sittingbourne in connection with the attack that left Billericay Town keeper Nicky Morgan paralysed. Whilst I’m pleased police seem to be making headway, my more fervent hope is that Nicky makes a full recovery.
Team News – Not the full line up, but just been told Harry Elmes has a ‘tweak’ so is on the subs bench as a safety precaution and Karl Beckford doesn’t play. Well, I say told, but was just earwigging another conversation from someone who looked official.
7.35pm – No team news yet but I must say I like the spiffing press table to put my netbook, can of drink, and hot dog wrapper on. Can’t complain at entrance fee tonight – £5 inclusive of programme. Hats off to the Beach Boys. Well, hats on, really, as it’s chilly, but you get my drift.
Concord – Grays Preview (right click then save link / target to download)
7.15pm – Good evening from a chilly but expectant Thames Road for looks to be a cracking Essex Cup quarter final clash.
Concord Rangers have at last hit form and have extricated themselves from the Ryman Premier relegation zone. Grays Athletic, though, have been consistently near the top of Ryan One North all season. This could be a cracker.
Elsewhere Canvey Island need to be on their guard against ESL frontrunners Witham Town, who are in form and will have no fears. For East Thurrock United, though, they will need to thrive on the fear of the drop from the Ryman Premier as they desperately need three points at Carshalton Athletic.
As ever, keep refreshing this page every few minutes, and the wonders of cup football from the comfort of your own home – or at least your own laptop or phone – will be beamed back through this interweb thingy. Hurrah!
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About Gateway 97.8
Gateway 97.8 is the local community radio station for the Basildon and East Thurrock areas of South Essex, providing news, sport and information to the local population. 