FA Cup Second Qualifying Round - Saturday 17 September

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Good luck to Shefford Town & Campton in their difficult FA Cup Second Qualifying Round tie at Grays Athletic on Saturday, the only surviving SSML Club:

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All the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round ties, Chesham United and Bracknell Town drew 2-2 this evening that saw the visitors equaIise in the eighth minute of added time:

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An attractive programme cover for this afternoon's tie aIthough isn't £3 a IittIe on the pricey side:

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What a resuIt for Shefford Town & Campton this afternoon:

FA Cup Second Qualifying Round

Grays AthIetic 1 Shefford Town & Campton 3

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A groundhopper for another Forum was at Parkside this afternoon:

Grays Athletic 1 Shefford Town & Campton 3
FA Cup 2nd Q Rd - Att: 220
Admission £10 Programme £3 for 64 pages - nicely produced and plenty of decent content.
Unable to travel too far today and this one ticked a few boxes for me, being it was an FA Cup game and having previously lived in Grays for a few years and being a semi regular at the long lost Rec, it tickled my fancy. Add the fact that it was 2 sides going well in Steps 4 & 5 respectively it won the day.
An immaculately observed minute silence was followed by the National Anthem and off we went in glorious late summer sun on the Parkside 3G.
The first half was a curious fayre - Grays clearly had the bulk of possession, getting behind the Shefford back line but the final ball was either aimed at the lino or failed to find a blue shirt. To be fair however not many seemed to be busting a gut to get into dangerous positions. For the visitors though when they did break, they caused a few flutters with one chip from distance being tipped over the bar by home keeper Danny Sambridge , just as his opposite number Kyle Foster had done from an inswinging free kick. On the half hour the deadlock was broken with a long throw flicked on at the near post and the loose ball swept home by Sam Day - and it remained that way at the break.
Grays came out all guns blazing in the second half - as you would expect and levelled 2 minutes in from the spot. A foul inside the box saw the man on black, Mr Merchant, who I thought handled the game well, point straight to the spot and there were no complaints. The giant Grays forward Annointed Chuckwu buried the kick sending Foster the wrong way.
At that point and indeed for the next 10 minutes or so it seemed Grays would run out winners, hitting the top of the bar from distance and causing a lot of desperate defending from the Shefford back line. However against the run of play their wastefulness in possession was punished when the visitors broke with a ball out wide, the subsequent cross was not great and went beyond the far post where a Shefford forward played it across goal tamely - but somehow it slid under keeper Sambridge and trickled in. Try as they might Grays couldn't create anything in the half hour that remained. Plenty of possession - but other than a comfortable save for the keeper they never threatened with many shots flying high, wide and not very handsome. In fact I lost count of the amount of times home shots flew out of the ground. In addition countless crosses found an opponent.
And true to form, Shefford Town & Campton hit Grays with a sucker punch at the end. Breaking away forward Charlie Thake, was put through one on one with Sambridge and he found the back of the net.
That was it, a surprise result for the Bedfordshire side.
As for Grays - they still have an incredibly loyal fan base despite playing a few miles out of town at Aveley and it is good to see many of those being of a younger generation. I hope they can get back into Grays sooner rather than later and then flourish - and who knows? Maybe the really good times can return and if not, the Community at least will have their Club back where they do belong.