It's a Grays day for beaten Town

CLINICAL Grays continued their march towards the Nationwide South title, after a ruthless display of finishing separated them from a Basingstoke Town side who more than matched their visitors but failed to take their chances.

Manager Ernie Howe felt Town deserved a goal and that the scoreline flattered the league leaders, who won Saturday's Camrose clash thanks to goals from Steve West, Vill Powell and Dennis Oli.

But Howe did acknowledge his side's profligacy and failure to deal properly with two of the moves that lead to Grays scoring.

He said: "From a defensive point of view, you look at the first two goals and they were poor goals to concede. Grays aren't a side who need any encouragement.

"But I generally thought we worked hard and tried to keep playing football, even at 2-0 down. We kept going and, if I'm honest, we created as many, if not more, chances than Grays. It's not as if they bossed us or played us off the park.

"How many good crosses from Cristian Levis flashed across goal? About six. We just didn't have the bodies in there to convert them."

The third-versus-first encounter lived up to its top-of-the-table billing.

The early exchanges were even, although Town were unlucky on 15 minutes when Nathan Stamp latched on to Sergio Torres' through-ball and goalkeeper Ashley Bayes made a mess of sweeping it up, colliding with his defender Jamie Stuart.

But just before Martin Whiddett arrived on the edge of the box to collect, Steve Robinson intervened to clear.

Grays went ahead in the 17th minute when West was afforded a free header from a right-wing cross.

As Town pushed up for offside, Brett Cooper dallied and it allowed West to plant his header over Scott Tarr from 12 yards out.

"The lads said he was offside," commented Howe. "But it was a situation we should have done better with. Brett has enough experience to have cleared earlier."

The goal brought a good response from Town, whose passing and movement to create opporunities over the next 10 minutes was excellent.

At the hub of it was Torres, who Howe felt was the Blues' outstanding player and won his midfield battle.

Levis put a volley straight at Bayes, and then Whiddett planted a header from a corner down and into the arms of the well-positioned Grays 'keeper.

The same player then also turned a whipped-in Neville Roach cross just beyond the far post.

At the other end, Scott Tarr had to be at his best to thwart Oli and Powell, scrambling in the dirt to repel two shots.

On 30 minutes, Roach had a penalty claim turned down after beating three men and cutting into the box.

But it was the impressive Oli who crafted Grays' second goal just before the break.

He was given too much time and space to cut straight across the edge of the box from the right flank as the Town defence went missing.

Tarr came out to narrow the angle and saved Oli's shot with his left foot, but the ball fell nicely for Powell, who had an easy tap-in.

"It was the worst time to lose a goal," said Howe. "We were still in the game at 1-0."

On 56 minutes, the match was all but over when Stuart Thurgood turned a deep corner back into the danger area and Oli swept home from close range.

Howe brought off Cooper, who'd just been booked and was in danger of getting a red card, and reverted to a 4-3-3 formation.

Levis had a volley from a Neville Stamp free-kick cleared off the line by Thurgood on 68 minutes, while Roach was pressured by John Nutter into dragging wide from six yards after another Torres run and pass put him in.

Whiddett went even closer on 76 minutes when his hooked effort from a Levis cross again evaded the far post, while Torres tried in vain for a goal, but his 90th minute run and shot brought a fine save from Bayes.

The result increases Grays lead at the top to 13 points, while Town slip down to fifth place.

Town: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper (Jamie McClurg 62 mins), Neville Stamp, Jason Bristow, Ricky Allaway (Scott Smith 59 mins), David Ray, Cristian Levis, Sergio Torres, Martin Whiddett, Neville Roach, Nathan Stamp. Not used: Toby Sumner, Mark Zawadski, Jamie Roach.