Teams from the Dr Martens League have left Grays feeling pretty sick these past couple of months.

First Hinckley in the FA Cup and now Welling in the Trophy have dismissed Blues from the two cup competitions which matter the most.

No question about the reason for Saturday's defeat. He may be getting on in years, but Gary Abbott likes nothing more than a game against Grays, no mater what the faces opposing him.

On the previous occasion, in October 2000, Abbott was playing for Aldershot and Blues were managed by Chris Snowsill. The score was 6-0 and Abbott got four of the goals.

Thanks to a successful penalty-kick in time added on, the 36-year-old repeated the four-play last Saturday.

As for Grays, this was a result probably waiting to happen. Apart from the victory at Braintree on the weekend after Christmas, Blues have been distinctly ordinary in recent weeks and this was a game where that wouldn't be good enough.

Trailing by two goals at the interval, the home side did enjoy most of the territorial advantage thereafter and with 11 minutes remaining had reduced the deficit to just the one goal.

But as hard as they pressed, Grays couldn't gain the equaliser and it was Abbott who made sure Welling were in Monday's fourth round draw where they were paired against Woking.

Blues had been chasing the game as early as the fifth minute when Abbott was left unmarked when the ball broke to him from Anthony Rivere's scuffed shot.

Rivere was to be instrumental in most of Welling's best moves and often exposed the home defence as somewhat cumbersome and one-paced.

Dave Rainford did hit an unpright on 41 minutes with one of his typical rasping drives, but then came a howler from Mel Capleton when he overran the ball and it was squared back across goal for Abbott's easiest of his four.

Having missed an opportunity near the end of the half, Sammy Cooper put Grays back into the contest five minutes into the period when the winger fired into the roof of the net following a good passing move.

On the hour both teams were left to fight it out with a man short after Warren Hackett and Scott Lindsay were sent off following an off-the-ball scuffle.

The third Welling score was a bit tough on Grays who were well on top at the time when Abbott stuck a foot out to a cross. But five minutes later Steve Robinson's close range header brought some hope.

Afterwards director of football Mike Woodward summed up the feelings of the majority of those at the Rec when he said: "It was a disappointing defeat but Welling deserved to win the game, which highlighted certain weaknesses in our team which we intend to address."

Published Monday January 14, 2002