Grays Athletic 3, Leiston 2 RYAN Kirby said he couldn’t ask for any more after seeing his Grays Athletic side make it two wins in their first two Ryman Premier League games.

The player-manager, who succeeded Hakan Hayrettin in June, was treated to three sublime goals as Blues battled to a 3-2 win over Leiston in their first competitive game at Millfield.

Jeff Hammond gave Grays the lead in the 11th minute. Alex Cruickshank, the highly impressive, young midfielder, showed great strength and control before playing a smart one-two with Aaron Ramos-Gonzalez and pinging a ball through to Hammond, who darted around a sprawling Shaun Phillips in the Leiston goal and slotting home.

Joe Jefford, the Leiston centre half, had the visitors level within six minutes when he turned home a long throw in that Blues’ defence failed to deal with.

Four minutes before half time, Leon Lalite’s stunning 25 yard strike put Blues back in front but eight minutes into the second half, Jefford struck again to pull Leiston level once more, when he headed home a corner.

However, the game was won in the 86th minute when Joao Carlos – who was otherwise inconspicuous during the match – tapped in the winner after latching on to lay off by Jack West. The Blues striker had a very good game in all and expertly controlled a pass up the line by Lee Flynn, before flicking the ball through to Carlos.

Junior Baker, who spent much of the summer pondering his future at Grays, was typically excellent as was his new centre back partner Joe Nightingill. Both worked tirelessly to make blocks, win tackles and head clear Leiston’s direct threat from the air.

When asked how he is enjoying life as Blues’ manager Kirby said: “I’m generally finding it good. I was at the club last season so a lot of preparation work went on then, alongside Hakan.

“The majority of the players are existing from last year and we’ve added one or two into it so we’ve just had to get them to understand things quickly but it’s been good. Two games two wins, you can’t ask for more than that.”

The Grays boss applauded his side’s three goals but refused to get carried away after an impressive start to the campaign. Blues currently sit top of the Ryman Premier League as one of just three teams with a 100 per cent win record intact.

He added: “We’ve played two very good teams to start with and we’re playing another one on Saturday so we’ve been asked a lot already.

“One thing I’ll say about us, anyone coming to watch us this season is we have an abundance of ability going forward. The chances we create and the way we go about creating them as well is really exciting. The three we scored tonight were superb. The passing and moving off the first one, the strike from Leon on the second one and the understanding between Jack West and Carlos on the third one, you can’t ask for any more.

“I literally don’t see it going beyond the next game as you can’t tell. It’s so early in the season and what we’ve done is got off to a very good start and we’ll be tested again against a very good Enfield side on Saturday.”

On a good night for Grays, the one low point was an injury to Hammond which forced him off after 30 minutes. The striker - who was hit hard in a tackle by Adam Tann - had looked lively, with his pace troubling the Leiston back four.

“We’ll have to see how Jeff is,” Kirby said. “He took quite a whack unfortunately and it doesn’t look great at the moment, but after impact, it’s always going to swell to start with. He’ll be icing it and we’ll see how it is come Saturday, but obviously it is a concern.”

Grays Athletic: Kamurasi; Pope, Flynn, Nightingill, Baker; Ramos-Gonzalez, Cruickshank, Lalite, Carlos; West, Hammond (Hamdan, 32’)

Subs not used: Moses, Kirby, Anderson

Bookings: Lalite, West, Pope, Tann, Dugdale

Gazette MoM: Junior Baker