Walthamstow v Grays Athletic preview

Walthamstow take on Grays Athletic on Tuesday night in the Isthmian League Division One North.

Stow come into the game on the back of their first win in the league this season, beating Brantham Athletic on Saturday 3-0 at Wadham Lodge. Goals in the first half from Rasheed Salau, Brian Garzon and former Brantham skipper Hafeez Elegushi sealed the game, though Stow did go down to ten men near the end as Elegushi received a second yellow card.

Grays travelled to Canvey Island to face Concord Rangers on Saturday and came out as 3-1 losers. Oscar Shelvey gave the visitors the breakthrough 16 minutes in, before Bobby Kelman levelled the game for Concord just before the break. Kelman would get on the scoresheet again on the 53^rd minute giving the hosts the lead. Former Stow man Khris Oti came off the bench to secure the win in the 90th minute for Concord, giving them their second win of the league campaign.

Stow faced Grays three times last season with two encounters in the Isthmian League Division One North and an Isthmian League Cup tie back in early September. A late equaliser from Ali Njie sent the cup tie to a penalty shootout, but Stow were unable to proceed to the next round, losing on spot kicks. Stow travelled to Chadfields in late December and came away with a 4-0 win with goals from Tayo Oyebola, Bilal Sayoud, Jordan Peart and Callum Ibe. In the reverse fixture, Grays came out victorious in a 2-0 win via a brace from Elliott Sartorius.

Walthamstow and Grays’ common people

Given the proximity of the two clubs, and the similar standards they’ve played at for most of their  history, there are far too many people who have been associated with both clubs to go into any kind of depth.

Perhaps the most important person in recent history is Hakan Hayrettin. Heyrettin was the Stow manager for almost 200 games; his first senior management job back when the club was known as Leyton Pennant and then Waltham Forest. After a spell at Thurrock, Hayrettin took over at Grays where he lead them to the Isthmian Division One North title in 2013.

More recently, Jordan Peart signed for Stow from Grays in 2023, while Jared Small also turned out for the Essex side earlier in his career.

Grays’ squad includes Casey Nolan-Samuels, who spent time at Stow at the beginning of the 21/22 season, and both George Marsh and Sam Bantick, who signed for Stow but never played a game.

Previous meetings