Grays Athletic v Hucknall Town
The FA Trophy Final
Aston Villa FC, Villa Park
12.30pm, 22 May 2005


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Grays Athletic's Route to The Final - in the words of manager Mark Stimson

First Round
Grays Athletic 5-1 Great Wakering Rovers
Very professional performance against a team from a lower division who worked extremely hard and stopped Grays playing in the first half. Fitness and ability eased the team through in the second half with a hat trick from Leroy Griffiths.

Second Round
Grays Athletic 4-1 Windsor & Eton
Again this was a game against lower level opposition who came to stop Grays playing and hope to catch them on the break. To this aim they were successful in keeping the score to 1-1 at half time.

However in the second half the home side stepped up the tempo and further goals came with some ease at the end. Being complemented on the fitness and the quality of Grays' play was in itself a pleasing comment to hear.

Third Round
Sutton United 0-2 Grays Athletic
On a grey dull and damp day things were never going to be easy. Indeed the pitch at Sutton is known for being heavy and so it proved. Although struggling near the foot of the table the home side had not lost in its previous five games. With the first half goal less I was confident our fitness would carry the day and so it proved.

Fourth Round
Grays Athletic 5-0 Havant & Waterlooville
Playing a team in danger of being relegated is always a proverbial banana skin.

Having beaten Havant the week before at their ground with a last minute goal from skipper Stuart Thurgood we new this was going to be a tough battle. After some physical challenges from the opposition we were in no mood to lie down and made our superior fitness and our quality passing game win the day.

Once going in front I was in no doubt about the final outcome, which turned out to be a commanding performance.

Fifth Round
Altrincham 2-4 Grays Athletic
Travelling north on the Friday the talk was of an Altrincham team that had not been beaten in their last 14 games and had an excellent home record.

First memory was of a very irate groundsman, who refused to allow anybody on the pitch when we first arrived.

However, my boys were up for it from the start we took the game to the home side and were well deserving of a two goal lead at half time. Altrincham came out fighting in the second half and a combination of good goalkeeping, good defending and luck kept them to a single goal before Leroy’s pace made it 3-1 and Johnny Martin sealed the day 4-2.

Not only did we win the game but received applause from the home crowd for the quality of our performance.

Sixth Round
Grays Athletic 4-1 Exeter City
This was truly a classy performance that shocked one of the Conference’s top sides. Weeks previous they had drawn with Manchester United at Old Trafford so they must have thought Grays would be an easier test. How wrong they were.

Apart from the opening minutes Grays dominated the game and scoring two good goal in each half. Leaving Steve Perryman shell-shocked.

Semi-Final 1st leg
Grays Athletic 5-0 Burton Albion
Another classy magnificent performance in which my lads dominated the game from the first whistle. Scoring goals from all angles by four different players, that shows the capability of this team.

Their manager was obviously shell shocked and unable to inspire his team after half time. This result killed the tie, with many visiting supporters refusing to attend the 2nd leg.

Semi-Final 2nd leg
Burton Albion 0 -2 Grays Athletic
Grays Athletic win 7-0 on aggregate
A walk in the park, despite being 5-0 up you always think the impossible could happen, early goal, keeper sent off, but once we scored in the 2nd minute we enjoyed the rest of the day and the traveling fans were great. Well done to all our supporters!

Grays now go up against Hucknall Town in The Final, click here to read their road to Villa Park...