Gravesend & Northfleet 1 Grays Athletic 3

FOR 67 minutes at Stonebridge Road on Tuesday night those still walking among Gravesend’s wounded threatened a famous victory.

Then, in five minutes of madness, Grays Athletic turned the match on its head with a rapid salvo of goals in the 67th, 68th and 71st minutes.

To make matters worse, midfielder Steve McKimm was ordered off in stoppage time for serious foul play following a challenge on Grays midfielder and skipper Stuart Thurgood that earned him a straight red.

There was no hint of things to come in an even first half in which neither goalkeeper stirred.

Grays hit the ground running at the start of the second half and Aaron Kerr, recalled in the Fleet goal for the first time in the Conference since the 6-1 debacle at Grays on August 16, did well to turn aside shot from former Charlton striker Mark Debolla in the 47th minute.

Four minutes later, Grays goalkeeper Ashley Bayes produced a flying save to tip Jimmy Jackson’s free kick around a post. Jackson took the resulting corner from which Bradley Johnson rifled the ball home from close range.

Glenn Poole’s spectacular free-kick equalised in the 67th minute and before the Fleet had time to draw breath, slack defending let in Michael Kightly a minute later.

With the defence in disarray, Kightly beat the offside trap to run through for a third in the 71st.

Gravesend: Kerr, Gooding, R. Smith, Watkins, Hawkins, Slatter, McKimm, Bowry (Moore h-t), Johnson, J. Smith, Jackson.
Subs Not Used: Holloway, Fuller, Skinner, Glozier.
Attendance: 1,245.