Flying Kiwis and some more stuff on Henry Gray. Must be in contention to be one of the 3 keepers for Paris next year.
These are fantastic times to be involved with Ipswich Town as the Tractor Boys continue to charge onwards in the English Championship, currently sitting top of the pops after another win midweek. It’s looking very much like they’ll be playing Premier League next season. Yup, NZ U20s goalie and former Wellington Phoenix/Waterside Karori prospect Henry Gray has found himself in a pretty sweet spot there.
But football clubs run deep and while Gray has been staying busy with the Ipswich U21s since joining the club earlier in the year you don’t go turning down a chance to play first team football at 18 years of age. So for the next wee while he’s going to be a Chelmsford City player, joining the National League South club (sixth tier) on an emergency loan after a long-term injury to their regular starter left them short on numbers.
WELCOME HENRY!
We are delighted to announce the loan signing of Henry Gray, from Ipswich Town!
The 18-year-old joins and is available for tomorrow's game against Oxford!
Hear Robbie Simpson's thoughts on the signing, over on our website 👇#WelcomeHenry #ClaretsTogether— Chelmsford City FC (@OfficialClarets)
Chelmsford City manager Robbie Simpson:
“Obviously with the unfortunate injury to Josh Oluwayemi, in which it seems that he will be out for some time, we wanted to act pretty quickly ahead of the festive period and wanted to have 2 keepers in. Jacob has stepped in and done ever so well but we have had Henry training with us a couple of times now and we really like him as a person, obviously knowing Finley Barbrook very well, and he looks to have all the attributes to be a top, top keeper. He is highly regarded at Ipswich and Carl Pentney, who we know very, very well, said that he is ready for this next stage in his development and playing men’s football. Carl thinks that he will be more than capable at being a very good keeper at this level. We are very happy to get Henry added to the side and look forward to seeing him between the sticks!”
Love that. Particularly the “highly regarded at Ipswich” line. For the record, Finley Barbrook is the captain of the Ipswich U21s and has been on load at CC for a month already. Carl Pentney is the Ipswich Academy goalkeeping coach and he had multiple spells at Chelmsford City during his career.
It sounds like Gray had already been with the squad for a few sessions before the loan was confirmed – Chelmsford is less than an hour’s drive from Ipswich – and in fact he’s already made his debut since this move happened. Got the start in an Essex Senior Cup fourth round fixture against Redbridge, a game in which they drew 2-2 after regular time with Redbridge converting a penalty equaliser deep into stoppage time. Then Redbridge won 4-3 in the shootout to advance. Gray did save one of the kicks in the shootout but his teammates couldn't capitalise.
This was an alternative non-league cup so we’ll see if this is a hint that he’ll be playing league games as well or whether he’s being seen more as a backup. Be aware that they did make ten changes for this match. Chelmsford City are eighth out of 24 teams in the National League South so a promotion playoff is absolutely within their realms.
