Grays Athletic 4 Soham Town Rangers 1

Football

SOHAM were forced to play more than 80 minutes against championship-favourites Grays Athletic with 10 men after striker Dubi Ogbonna was given his marching orders.

The Greens striker was sent for an early bath eight minutes into the match after clashing with defender Grant Cooper, though the Grays’ man was only handed a yellow card for his part in the altercation.

Despite taking the lead, the Greens were eventually ground down by their lofty opponents, who ran in three second-half goals to take the points.

Andy Furnell’s men slipped to 17th in the Ryman League Division One North following the defeat, with high-flying Tilbury their next opponents on Saturday.

After a bright start by the Greens, their momentum was severely checked after Ogbonna was shown a straight red card.

Despite their disadvantage however, Furnell’s men managed to move ahead after 16 minutes as midfielder Dan Cotton blasted home from the penalty spot following a foul on Michael Simpson.

The Greens competed admirably with their opponents in the ensuing minutes but finally succumbed with 31 minutes on the clock as Lee Flynn fired home a low shot from just outside the area.

Grays started to dominate in the aftermath of their equaliser, but a handful of chances for Leon McKenzie and Joe Sweeney were wasted.

Though Soham started the second half well, continuing to break forward at pace, they lacked a cutting edge and were unable to create any clear cut chances.

Grays took the lead on the hour mark as Flynn again fired home from distance, the defence affording him too much room.

The Greens refused to roll over however, and battled gamely to keep the home side at bay.

The visitors held out until the 82th minute, when Danny Bunce latched on to a slide rule pass to slot past Dan Bircham. McKenzie added a fourth for Grays in the 87th minute.