Bishop's Stortford1

Grays Athletic1

(FA Trophy)s=10STORTFORD came so close to moving into the next round of the FA Trophy, being denied by a last minute Grays equaliser that forces a replay on Tuesday evening.o

s=9A healthy gate of 503 turned up to watch a game that was always going to be interesting, with the Blues starting eleven containing no less than six former Grays players in Micky Desborough, Mark Risley, Carl Fannon, Ray Taylor, Lee Double and Vinnie John.o

The crowd also contained a number of former Blues players, at the club for the launch of Gareth Stephens' book - The Story of the Blues.

These included players from the 1974 FA Amateur Cup and 1981 FA Trophy winning sides.

After a quiet opening, the Blues came more into the game as the half progressed.

Trevor Paul chased down a long ball and was able to block Lunan's clearance and pass to John, who in turn set up Fannon, but his shot from the edge of the area fizzled past the post.

The best chance of the half fell to Stortford when Paul beat the offside trap to go one-on-one with the Grays goalkeeper, but the Stortford man ended up shooting on his weaker right foot and his effort was blocked by Lunan.

The second half continued in a similar fashion to the first. An edgy opening eventually saw both teams settle down and Desborough soon had to palm a David Rainford free kick around his post.

With the game entering its last ten minutes Stortford took the lead. A horrendous mix-up between Alan McLeod and Lunan left the ball to John, who took a couple of touches before finding the bottom corner with a rasping shot that sent the home supporters into raptures.

The Blues immediately sat back on their lead while Grays searched for the equaliser, and it duly arrived in the final minute of the game when the Stortford defence failed to clear the ball and Tony Lock fired home.

Stortford should have grabbed a last-gasp goal when a ball was lofted to John, but with just Lunan to beat he shot agonisingly wide of the target.

Stortford played the replay last night, check out www.bishopsstortford citizen.co.uk to see how they got on.

On Tuesday December 11, the Blues play in the Ryman League Cup (opponents are yet to be decided). Kick off at 7.45pm.

f=Zapf Dingbats lo To win a copy of "The Story of The Blues", just answer this simple question. How many times have Bishops Stortford played at Wembley? Is it never, once or twice?

Send your answers to: Sportsdesk, Guardian House, 480-500 Larkshall Road, Higams Park.

December 6, 2001 17:53