Cheltenham Town	Lincoln City	Rochdale	Cambridge United	West Ham United	Bristol Rovers
Macclesfield Town	Rushden & Diamonds	Wycombe Wanderers	Notts County	Kidderminster Harriers	Colchester United
Darlington	Boston United	Swansea City	Scunthorpe United	Shrewsbury Town	Northampton Town
Shrewsbury Town	Oxford United	Luton Town	Yeovil Town	Grimsby Town	Northampton Town
Leyton Orient	Bury	Chester City	Wycombe Wanderers	Mansfield Town	Rushden & Diamonds
Kidderminster Harriers	Boston United	Notts County	Mansfield Town	Swindon Town	Darlington
Swansea City	Scunthorpe United	Bristol Rovers	Northampton Town	Shrewsbury Town	Bury
Chester City	Bristol Rovers	Lincoln City	Cheltenham Town [2]	Rochdale	Cambridge United
Bristol Rovers	Wrexham	Leyton Orient	Macclesfield Town	Oxford United	Yeovil Town
Grimsby Town	Northampton Town	Northampton Town	Lincoln City

Gray celebrates in typical fashion

Gray grabbed 13 goals in League and Cup for the Shrimpers during 2004/5, and that is as many, if not more, than Southend’s top goalscorers during many of the years of the downward spiral from the old First Division. Indeed, had Freddy Eastwood not stolen all the headlines with 24 strikes in his incredible debut campaign, Gray would have been the man that fired the Seasiders up. Or maybe not quite.

A fair proportion of his efforts came from the penalty spot, which slightly distorts the figures, although not enough to significantly undermine them. Certainly, his first goal was from twelve yards against Lincoln City – it was the only goal Blues netted in their first five games. Andy Marriott came off of his goalline and Gray threw himself to the floor. The referee pointed to the spot, and most important the former Wimbledon man kept his cool to stroke home the equaliser.

His pre-season had been very good, scoring three times in his first two 45-minute slots. That was enough to make him a first choice as the season started, alongside Drewe Broughton. The big man (Broughton, winning all the aerial balls), small man (Gray, short and speedy, a former British schoolboy sprinter) partnership in theory should have worked, but at no time did Drewe link up successfully with Wayne, and that consigned the duo to this history books.

Gray lost his place against West Ham United in place of Lawrie Dudfield, and had to come off of the bench – memorably missing a complete sitter at Meadow Lane against Notts County in one of those matches – in a series of Shrimpers successes. He looked doomed until Dudfield’s back started playing up, and he returned to varying levels of success against Colchester United and Darlington.

Finally he found his feet against Boston United, scoring in a 2-1 win, and this was the catalyst for his purple patch of 2004/5. A little-known front runner by the name of Freddy Eastwood has just joined on loan from Grays Athletic, and that was the spark that Gray required. Tesfaye Bramble’s injury, sustained in goal against the Pilgrims after he had looked to forge a dangerous partnership with the ex-Leyton Orient trainee, set up the situation.

Saturday 16th October 2004 saw Eastwood’s explosive debut, and it was Gray who set it all up as Blues sensible kick-off led to his left-wing cross and the youngster’s opening after just 7.7 seconds. There followed another assist, this time from the right flank, and although Gray had not himself scored, he had set-up half of Blues’ four goals in a 4-2 win.

At Scunthorpe, he sent in a brilliant centre, with Eastwood bagging his fourth in two matches, and there followed three goals in three games against Shrewsbury Town (twice) and Northampton Town. He scored a vital spot kick in December at Bury, also laying an open goal on a plate for Eastwood to slice embarrassingly over the crossbar. But the five goals in ten games period had come to an end, and he wouldn’t score again until the away match at Bury.

He was in and out of the side, with Dudfield the main challenger to his spot. The ex-Leicester City man couldn’t command a regular place though, since he lacked the understanding with Eastwood. Four goals in four games in March represented another fine spell, with two against Cheltenham Town the highlight as Blues won five in seven to move to the top of the League Two table.

Sadly, his last goal came against Bristol Rovers at Roots Hall. It helped Southend go top again ahead of Yeovil Town, but he could not regularly assist Eastwood any more in terms of goals. Gray had all the pace, but appeared to be running into nowhere, and was struggling to complete ninety minutes. He spend the final month of the season largely on the bench, and replaced by Dudfield in the Play-Off Final at Cardiff. With his experience with Wimbledon, he should improve in 2005/6 in League One.

Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com