Cray Wanderers vs Horsham – Isthmian Premier – Saturday 7th September, 3 pm – Match Preview
Cray Wanderers return to league action on Saturday 7th September after the FA Cup break last weekend as Horsham are the visitors to Flamingo Park. Kick off 3 pm.
Cray will be looking to build on the momentum of a record FA Cup victory on Tuesday night as Larkfield & New Hythe were beaten 8-0 as Neil Smith’s side look to bounce back from four consecutive league defeats. Any thoughts of a a cup upset on Tuesday were quickly ended as Cray went three nil up in twelve minutes and four nil just after the twenty minute mark.
Frankie Raymond’s second goal of the season gave Cray the lead after three minutes and a superb Nyren Clunis volley four minutes later helped calm any nerves. Captain, Tom Bonner made it three nil and Kenny Coker got off the mark for the club with a brace in the first half. Anthony Cook scored his third goal in four games to make it 6-0 ten minutes after half time and Bonner claimed his second ten minutes later for his third goal of the season. An own goal twelve minutes from time completed the scoring and a historic first win at Flamingo Park and cup win. As well as the goals there were some excellent performances all round, a clean sheet and Imran Kayani had a great game up front and was unfortunate not to score with a shot off the crossbar.
Horsham under the astute management of Dominic Di Paola since 2015 have started the season well and are 7th in the league table with nine points from five games. They began with a 0-2 defeat at Hastings United but then won three in a row beating Chichester City (2-1) and Potters Bar Town (3-2), both at home and then 4-1 at Hashtag United on 24th August. Their last league game on Bank Holiday Monday ended in a 1-3 home defeat to Dover Athletic. Last Saturday, the Hornets eased past Virginia Water in the 1QR of the FA Cup with goals from Danile Ajakaiye who took his tally to four for the season, Reece Myles-Meekums, an own goal and ex-Wand Chris Dickson making if four with his second of the season. Horsham will now face Dorking Wanderers at home in the 2QR in a competition where the club have done superbly in the last three seasons.
Last season was an excellent one for Horsham where they finished 5th on 76 points and reached the playoffs where they were beaten on penalties at Chatham Town after a 1-1 draw. They also reached the 2nd Round of the FA Cup and won the Sussex County Cup beating Hastings United 3-0 in the final at the Amex Stadium.
Cray tended to have a decent record against Horsham at Hayes Lane but last season saw the Hornets win both games, winning 3-1 at Cray early in the season and a 2-0 win at home with goals from Ajakaiye and James Hammond which helped towards clinching a playoff place in April.
Games between Cray Wanderers and Horsham have always been entertaining and full of drama and goals and with both teams bouncing back from Bank Holiday Monday league defeats with wins in the FA Cup this should be another game to savour.
Admission £12/£6 – on the gate or online at www.cray-wanderers.com/tickets/ – Match Programme available, £3,
THE PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS OF NEIL SMITH
Cray Wanderers return to league action this afternoon after the short break for the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round and face last season’s playoff semi-finalists Horsham in what should be a great game in keeping with matches with the Hornets in the past. Here Neil Smith looks back to Tuesday’s morale boosting 8-0 FA Cup win and looks ahead to the challenge of Horsham.
Hello Neil. So, we are through to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup after a record FA Cup win against Larkfield & New Hythe on Tuesday night. It was an incredible night especially to be 4-0 up in 21 minutes.
That’s right, we knew after the game on Saturday it was going to be a difficult game. They were very good opponents on a very difficult pitch as well as the wind to go with it. We had a talk before the kick off on Tuesday that we have to start hard and fast on our pitch. We say we want to play football and now we had the chance to show what we can do.
I thought Nyren Clunis had a great game and scored a superb second goal, Kenny Coker who played the no 9 role and held the ball up well was excellent and scored twice and to get that early goal you then saw the pressure on the boys disappear and all of a sudden had that belief which what had been missing this season. Tom Bonner was excellent again and a threat from set pieces, that is three goals this season for him and also Anthony Cook had a great game and is in terrific recent form and also has three in the last four games.
You mentioned the importance of the first goal and it was great for Frankie Raymond to score so early and raise the bar for the rest of the team to follow.
That’s right, it was a deflected shot into the top corner. It was great to get Frankie into the box as he hasn’t been doing that enough. Imran Kayani could have had a shot but decided to roll the ball to Frankie who put us in front and from there the belief in the team rose. We started a bit like that on Saturday, Imran missed from a couple of yards and had a header on goal but unfortunately the final ball into the players wasn’t on point but on Tuesday everything seemed to click and also to keep a clean sheet was important for us too.
Imran has come in on Thursday and played on Saturday and I think the fans saw how good he was in the replay and his shot almost took the goal frame out of the ground and you can see what he is going to offer us for the rest of the season and deserved to score a goal on the night.
Now we go on to face Wingate & Finchley in the next round but before that we face a very good Horsham side this afternoon, a team we always have great games against.
Since I’ve been in this division with Cray I have been very impressed with Horsham. They are very well organised, well managed and they were here observing on Tuesday night and saw us at our very best. They reached the playoffs last year so it is going to be a tough game but there isn’t going to be anything they will offer us we don’t know about but we will have to be at our best again. The last three games we have been starting to get to the point where we want to get to in terms of team spirit and being more gelled and not having too many players going in and out so hopefully today we have a good platform to build from.
DIRECTIONS TO FLAMINGO PARK
Cray Wanderers FC – Flamingo Park Sports & Leisure – Sidcup By-Pass, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HL
Flamingo Park lies on the A20 and is the new home of Cray Wanderers and used for the Men and Women’s First Team, U23s, Youth Team games, Academy side and the club house hosts live music and private events. For the 2024-25 season Bexley FC will also play their Kent County League Premier games at Flamingo Park.
By car
From Kent – Via M20 or A2
M20 – Follow the M20 for 16.8 miles then continue on to A20 for 3.6 miles then continue on to Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 1.9 miles. Continue onto Sidcup By-Pass/A20 for 0.3 miles then take a left into the ground entrance and another left for the car park.
A2 – Get on the M2 from A229 for 5.1 miles. After merging onto the M2 after 5.5 miles continue onto Watling Street/A2 for 8.7 miles. Use the left lane to take the M25 (S) slip road to M23 for 0.7 miles. Merge onto the M25 for 2.4 miles then at junction 3, exit towards A20/London (SE)/Swanley for 0.3 miles. At the Swanley interchange, take the 5th exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.8 miles. Merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles then continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 1.9 miles. Continue onto Sidcup By-Pass/A20 for 0.3 miles then take a left into the ground entrance and another left for the car park.
From London, North & West
Via A20 – If traveling from London take A3212, A302 and Westminster Bridge Road and at the roundabout take the 3rd exit onto St. George’s Circus/A201 and after 0.3 miles turn left onto New Kent Road/A201 for 0.5 miles. Then keep right staying on New Kent Road/A201 for 0.4 miles and then onto Old Kent Road/A2 for 2.6 miles. Take a slight right onto Amersham Road/A2/A20 then a left onto Amersham Road/A20 for 0.2 miles. Take a slight right onto Lewisham Way/A20 for 1.1 miles and then use the left 3 lanes to turn left onto Rennell Street/A20 for 1.9 miles. Use the right 2 lanes to turn slightly onto Sidcup Road/A20 for 0.3 miles then at the roundabout take the 2nd exit and stay on Sidcup Road/A20 for 3.7 miles. Then take the A222 towards Bromley/Chislehurst/Sidcup for 0.2 miles then at Frognal Corner Roundabout take the 4th exit onto the A20 slip road to C. London/Lewisham for 0.3 miles. Then merge onto the Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 0.6 miles and then onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles. Then take a left into the entrance to the ground and another left into the car park.
From Essex/East Anglia
Via A13 – If traveling from Essex/East Anglia get onto the A13 for 11.6 miles. Use the left lane to take the M25 (N)/M25 (S) slip road to M11/M1/Stansted Airport/Dartford Crossing/A282 for 0.2 miles. At Mardyke Junction take the 1st exit for 0.3 miles and then use the right lane to take the A282 slip road to M25 (S)/Dartford Crossing then keep right at the fork to continue towards A282 for 3.8 miles. Use the right 3 lanes to stay on A282 then follow signs for M20/M23/Gatwick Airport /M25/Channel Tunnel/Dover for 0.6 miles. Continue onto M25 (signs for Dover/M20/Channel Tunnel/M23 for 3.3 miles. At junction 3 exit towards A20/London (SE)/Swanley for 0.3 miles and at Swanley Interchange take the 5th exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.8 miles. Then merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles, continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Rd/A20 for 1.9 miles and then continue onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles then turn left into the entrance to the ground and then a left into the car park.
From: Sussex/South
If traveling from Sussex/South best get on Hastings Road/Pembury By-Pass/A21 in Kent from A267 and after 9.4 miles continue straight onto Sevenoaks Bypass/A21 for 3.8 miles and then keep right to continue onto M25. After 7.9 miles at junction 3 use the left 2 lanes to take the A20 exit to London/Lewisham/Channel Tunnel/Maidstone/M20 for 0.3 miles. At Swanley Interchange take the 2nd exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.5 miles. Merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles, continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Rd/A20 for 1.9 miles and then continue onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles then turn left into the entrance to the ground and then a left into the car park.
By Train – Nearest BR Station – New Eltham – 1 mile. Trains from London Charing Cross/London Cannon Street/London Bridge or from Dartford/Gravesend.
From the station walk south-east onto Foots Cray Road/A211 for 0.3 miles then turn right onto Thaxted Road for 0.2 miles. Then turn left towards Sidcup Road/A20 and cross over the pedestrian footbridge and take a sharp and then a slight right towards Sidcup Road/A20 for 0.4 miles and then turn right and then a left into the entrance to the ground.
By Bus – The best bet is to get the 233 from Swanley, Sidcup, Eltham or New Eltham which stops on Thaxted Road but is around 0.8 miles to the ground. The 160 from Carlton Road, Sidcup stops at Montbelle Road as does the 162 which also stops at New Eltham Station and the Fiveways roundabout and is around a 22 minutes walk to the ground.
Taxis – All Day Cars – 020 8850 0032 – New Eltham Station
Nearest Hotel: Premier Inn London Eltham
738 Sidcup Road, Eltham, London
SE9 3NS
Sat Nav Directions:SE9 3TJ
Directions:
From South Circular Road, take A20 Sidcup Bypass until you reach Fiveways, where Sidcup Road meets Green Lane Premier Inn Eltham is situated on the corner and the entrance to the car park is on Green Lane.
https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-eltham.html
