Grays Athletic 2 Yeading 1

FA Trophy Third Round - Saturday 3 February 2007

An early goal set the Ding off to a bad start against the back-to-back Trophy winners and whilst the Conference National side were the better Yeading will rue not having taken them at least to a replay.

It was the worst possible start for a nervy Yeading side. Tom Cadmore was out-muscled by debutant Maheta Molango in the box reaching the byline and drilling the ball to the near post. Yeading's defence were caught cold and John Martin's run from central midfield ended with him sliding the ball home from 5 yards out.

Yeading were rattled by the fast-pace and strength of their hosts. Had the 30 yard effort from Ashley Nicholls on seven minutes gone the other side of the post or Molango finished better three minutes later with Cadmore clearing off his line the Ding might have been on the wrong end of a hiding. As it was, after weathering the early storm with just a single goal deficit, they grew in confidence and began to play their trademark passing game.

On thirteen minutes, Yeading's first real attack saw play switch quickly from right to left, Marlon Patterson earning a corner. However, the same was easily cleared with Grays on a fast break that needed a very good one-handed save from Blackmore to deny Glenn Poole's well hit drive.

Jeff Goulding continued to look Yeading's best threat creating his own space but on twenty eight minutes, after making room for himself, his shot from 25 yards was straight into the arms of Danny Nicholls. Three minutes later however, Goulding again forced his way past defenders, this time into the box before firing high and wide. However, the late clattering challenge on him from Andy Sambrook saw referee Graham Horwood award a penalty. Making probably his last appearance in a Ding shirt Bobby Behzadi stepped up and sent Nicholls the wrong way to add more confidence to the Ding revival.

Just ahead of the break however, Yeading's concentration waned and they conceeded a second almost identical to Grays' first. This time Ashley Grant powered to the byline before delivering low to the near post and again John Martin's run from deep saw him slide home from close range.

Yeading troubled the Grays goal rarely, but neither were they ever out of the tie. Molango headed against the bar seven minutes after the break but Yeading were never outclassed by their hosts. Goulding forced Knowles into pushing over his looping header on sixty four minutes but other than Adam Everitt's 35 yard effort that Knowles was well behind, all the Ding's possession couldn't be turned into clear cut chances.

Molango should have killed the game on seventy three minutes with just Blackmore to beat but his shot was well wide but even with Yeading throwing Nathan Bowden-Haase on as another makeshift target man, the Ding couldn't punish Grays and take the Essex side back for a Replay.

Yeading: Blackmore, Allen-Page, Hudell (Bowden-Haase), Cadmore, Goddard, Everitt, Collins, Behzadi, Goulding, Wright (Morgan 57), Patterson (Barima 79). Subs not used:  Belaid, Stevens