Bermudian youth international Nayan Grant and his Gillingham FC Academy teammates were eliminated from the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday evening following a 2-0 defeat to Stevenage at MEMS Priestfield Stadium.
Despite a spirited performance in front of a home crowd of 303, the young Gills were unable to overcome a clinical first-half showing from the visitors.
The match began with Gillingham nearly taking an early lead when forward Sullivan Booth struck the bar in the eighth minute. However, Stevenage responded almost immediately. A cross-field pass exploited a gap in the Gills' final third, allowing Lenny Brown to loft a precise lob over goalkeeper Fletcher Hegarty to open the scoring.
Stevenage doubled their advantage five minutes before the interval when Samuel Ayolie drifted into space on the edge of the area and fired a powerful 18-yard strike into the back of the net.
Although Gillingham commanded possession following the interval and threw men forward in the closing stages, they were unable to break down a very stubborn and resilient defensive unit.
Joe Dunne’s side continued to probe but were limited to few clear-cut goalscoring opportunities as Stevenage comfortably saw the game out to progress to the next round.
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