It's looking good for Grays

Jared Small put Grays ahead in the 26th minute and Kenny Beaney added another seven minutes later, only for the Scholars to reply quickly through Lee Close.

That was a suitable name, for it stayed close until Danny Bunce made it 3-1 with 20 minutes left. Leon Lalite completed the scoring in the 80th minute.
Grays have taken the maximum 24 points from their last eight games while Maldon have managed only 14. They retained the league’s only unbeaten home record but let two more points slip in a 1-1 draw with Romford, who took an early lead through long-serving skipper Paul Clayton.

Ollie Berquez (pictured by Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo outjumping Romford's Jamie Dicks) levelled the scores moments before half-time but the hosts could not build on that goal in the second period and their position at the top now looks highly vulnerable.

Thamesmead might have title ambitions of their own after beating Sudbury 1-0 to move to within nine points of Maldon with two games in hand. Lea Dawson’s 35th-minute effort, when Lewis Tozer’s header came back off a post, was all the hosts needed.

Aveley, in fourth place, lost ground on the sides above them as they crashed 4-1 at Needham Market, who have finally found their touch at home. This was their fourth successive win at Bloomfields after they had gone 14 games without one.

Most of the action came in the first 16 minutes as Jemel Fox, Sam Newson and Bradley Barber put the Marketmen 3-0 up before Junior Dadson replied. Barber’s free-kick completed the scoring just before the break.

Heybridge stayed in fifth place after their 0-0 draw at Cheshunt, providing the merest glimmer of play-off hope for their nearest rivals, though Soham and Witham still have a seven-point gap to overcome. It could have been six, but Cheshunt’s Ryan Wade missed a good chance in the last minute.

Soham’s game at Tilbury was one of three postponed matches in the division, but Witham saw action and made the most of it with a crushing 7-2 win at Ilford.

Rob Whitnell’s sixth-minute header was soon answered by Dan Jolley, but then came a blitz from Sam Taylor, who netted twice in the last ten minutes of the first half and completed his hat-trick immediately after the restart.

Scott Pethers also found the net during that spell, and Whitnell made it 6-1 midway through the second half. Warren Mfula pulled one back with a penalty before John Watson volleyed the best goal of the game.

That result gave new hope to bottom club Redbridge, whose home game against 20th-placed Ware was another casualty of the wet weather. The Motormen are still two points behind Ilford but now have a second game in hand.

It was all square at Wroxham, where Gavin Lemmon’s fourth-minute penalty put the hosts ahead and Chatham replied a minute before half-time through Austin Gacheru.

The same 1-1 scoreline had been recorded in the Friday night game at Harlow, where Danny Brown scored in the sixth minute of added time to wipe out Jack Leachman’s 41st-minute effort for Waltham Forest.