Grays Athletic 0-2 Needham Market

From Mill Field

Ryman Premier League

GRAYS Athletic lost an eighth consecutive match as struggling Needham Market came to Mill Field and recorded a vital win.

Blues have struggled desperately in recent weeks after the departures of key players, with this the seventh time they have failed to score in those eight matches.

They lost this one 2-0 and Needham opened the scoring inside the first 15 minutes with a simple goal, which Grays will be disappointed to concede.

A corner from Luke Ingram was whipped in with pace and Michael Brothers got in front of his market to send the ball rocketing past Lamar Johnson in the home goal.

Things were improving for Grays, who were struggling to get the creative sparks of Calvin Poku and Freddie Gard into the match.

And it got worse for Grays seven minutes after the break when Brothers added his second of the afternoon and 15th of an excellent season for the strugglers.

The striker was taken off before he could complete his hat-trick, but the points were all but safe.

And this was confirmed when former Crawley man Ryan Richefond was shown a straight red card for Grays inside the final 10 minutes.

Grays Athletic: Johnson, Richefond, Flavin, Fuller, Tennent, Moses, Manangu, Gard, Poko, Little, Ekpiteta