TEN men Witham Town suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat at Grays Athletic in the Ryman Premier on Saturday.
Witham were up against it from the start and it did not help matters much when after 39 minutes defender Conor Mead was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.
Grays had an early chance when Dumebi Gb-Dumaka was put though but shot wide with just the keeper to beat. Both Luke Callendar and Lewis Godbold shot over for Witham, this being the visitors' best effort.
Mead then received his marching orders after a couple of tussles with Joao Carlos albeit 50-50 challenges yet Witham held on to keep the game scoreless at half-time, in fact Tom Wraight shot just over from two free-kicks just outside the area.
The big and physically powerful home side had a good spell directly after the break with Gb-Dumaka heading in two corners in the 52nd and 62nd minutes and Fredrick Ladapo heading in a free-kick in the 54th minute.
Witham were disheartened and for a while lost their way, making all their substitutions and although they did their best to get back in the game they could not prevent Grays from going further ahead when Ladapo dribbled through and shot under Martyn Guest with four minutes to go.