The tale of my latest football trip seems to revolve around the number 2
a) It was my second game of the weekend
b) It was my second visit to the Mill Ground, Aveley.
c) It is home to two clubs Aveley FC and today’s hosts, Grays Athletic FC
d) It is my second time of watching Grays Athletic FC
e) It is the second home ground I have seen Grays play at.
f) It is the second time I have watched Romford FC play.
g) It was the second place I visited today (Dagenham Market being the other!)
So Sunday and the chance to watch an extra game of football was too good a chance to miss. Aveley is less than 10 miles from my home, so easily reachable. I combined it with a visit to Dagenham Sunday Market. I have blogged about that place before, here and here.
Well the place doesn’t get any better. It is still catering for those who need 7XL clothing. I know that I am not a slim chap and have often worn 2XL clothing. However, 7XL is a bit extreme is it not. At size 2XL, I know I need to lose weight. Do those who are 7XL not realise the fact they can’t fit through the doorframe or walk more than a couple of yards without stopping for breath is a warning they need to lose weight?
Still for those people there are lots of food stalls selling 1/2 cheeseburgers, chips and other healthy treats such as chocolate coated apples. (Do they count as 1 of your 5 a day fruits/ veg?). It seems that you are never more than a few steps away from a food stall. I’m not convinced that some people do not stop at more than one of these stalls each visit.
Dagenham Market is an experience to be seen. Even today with it drizzling, there were the usual Essex girls, wearing very short shorts and tops with plunging necklines. This wouldn’t be so bad if they did not reveal ugly home made tattoos and the females were less than a size 20!
So after Dagenham market, it was a quick drive over to Aveley for the football. The first thing I noticed was there were far more cars in the free car park than last time I came when Aveley were at home to Brentwood. There is a huge expanse of parking at the ground. So, parking outside the main stand and it was 20 yards or so to the turnstiles. Admission is £10. This is a lot more than at Spennymoor who are 2 steps below in the Non League Pyramid, but is the norm for Step 3 football.
The only mention of Grays from outside the ground was a Rymans League sign near the turnstiles. The history of Grays is of over achievement followed by a period of homelessness. Last season they were playing at Rush Green in Romford. They won the Rymans League Div 1 North last season, but were evicted by their landlords as West Ham wanted to make more use of the ground for their academy teams. So this season they are lodging with Aveley. That explains why the game is on a Sunday as Aveley were at home yesterday in the FA Cup.
The ground at Aveley is an interesting one. One side of the ground is quite large. The Main Stand is quite high up and in front of it are around 10 or so steps of terracing running the whole length of the pitch. The remaining 3 sides of the ground are little more than hard standing with small covered sections behind one goal and on the opposite halfway line. The main stand is separated from the terracing by a grassed section and by a white fence. It looks rather quaint.
In the ground a met Mr Essex Football himself, Dan Wilson (@essexfootie) who is a fantastic font of football knowledge in this area. I follow his tweets regularly and it was good to put a face to a name.
The game from the start was a feisty affair. It is after all a local derby. They were in the same division last season until Grays won promotion. It came as no shock when Grays took an early lead. It seemed that it was going to be a long afternoon for Romford. However, it did not pan out like that. Grays seemed to be unduly rattled by Romford and despite being the better footballing side, it seemed that Grays were more interested in a fight rather than just playing their football. There were several flash points throughout the first half. The referee did well to control the game without resorting to his cards at every opportunity.
Grays did have the ball in the net a second time in the first half, but despite the stadium announcer calling it as a goal, the referee had disallowed it, correctly in my view. Now, you may be thinking this was a one sided affair, but that is far from the truth. If Romford had any form of composure in front of the goal, they could have been well ahead by half time. Every time Romford went forward they caused trouble for the Grays defence, especially their goalkeeper who looked decidedly shaky in the first half.
The second half started as the first half ended with Romford creating and wasting numerous chances. Then shortly after the hour mark, Grays doubled their lead after some poor defending by Romford and a good finish from Grays. Game over you may have thought? Well somebody forgot to tell Romford to roll lover and die. In fact a few minute later Romford pulled a goal back to make for an interesting last 20 minutes or so.
The game continued to be an end to end battle with lots of niggles and a punch up was not far away. The tackles were uncompromising. The referee did well to maintain control of the game.
Romford thought they had equalised when a header flashed past the Grays keeper but came back off the corner of the bar and post.
The game ended 2-1 to Grays, so they go through to the next round, which in keeping with the opening paragraph will be the 2nd qualifying round and will mark Grays 2nd game in this years FA Cup competition.
This was one of the most competitive and enjoyable games I’ve watched for a while. Neither side gave an inch and the commitment of all the players cannot be questioned. Its a shame it did not end up as a draw, because I would happily have attended a replay of this game.
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