Cray Wanderers vs Ebbsfleet United – The Pre-game thoughts of Danny Kedwell
Cray Wanderers look to create a bit of history by reaching the 3rd Round of the FA Trophy for the first time but may have to do it the hard way against Ebbsfleet United this afternoon. Here Danny Kedwell looks back on Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw with Folkestone Invicta and a look ahead to a match with one of his former clubs.
BROMLEY, GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 13: Cray Wanderers’s Manager, Danny Kedwell walks out the tunnel before the The Buildbase FA Trophy match between Cray Wanderers and Bedfont Sports at Hayes Lane on November 13, 2021 in Bromley, Greater London, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
Let’s look back to the game against Folkestone on Wednesday night. A cracking game especially if you were a neutral played at a great pace. What was your take on the game.
I thought it was an end to end game to be fair, especially first half. I think they overloaded their midfield which we looked to sort out at half time and I thought we dominated for 25 minutes after the break. It was almost like 20 minute pockets of play, they started well, we had a good spell, they were back in the ascendancy and then after half time as soon as we changed the shape we got a great goal to go in front. We scored two excellent goals to be fair but again it came down to fine margins and we conceded a bad goal at the end.
The lads are disappointed at the end which shows they care as they want to win so much. We won’t be where we are in the league for long.
BROMLEY, GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: Cray Wanderers’s Jamie Yila races Folkestone Invicta’s Alfie Paxman to the ball during the The Pitching In Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Folkestone Invicta at Hayes Lane on November 24, 2021 in Bromley, Greater London, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
We had quite a young midfield at times in the second half, Cameron Brodie, Jack Hanson, Sam Skeffington and I thought they acquitted themselves well against a good side.
I agree, I thought we ran out of legs a bit near the end, Jamie Yila ran himself into the ground and was magnificent up and down the pitch and we caused them a lot of problems until he got cramped up. We put Cameron in there as Adam Coombes was not well and came off at half time and I thought he was brilliant when he came on. He breaks the play down so well and has legs and as soon as we put legs in there we dominated the game for a spell.
BROMLEY, GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: Cray Wanderers’s Sam Skeffington, on loan from Bromley, runs at Folkestone Invicta’s Alfie Paxman during the The Pitching In Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Folkestone Invicta at Hayes Lane on November 24, 2021 in Bromley, Greater London, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
Folkestone are a good side and could have won it at the end when they hit the crossbar and we had chances too didn’t we for Chris Dickson and Jack Hanson.
BROMLEY, GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: Cray Wanderers’s Jack Hanson skies the ball over the bar during The Pitching In Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Folkestone Invicta at Hayes Lane on November 24, 2021 in Bromley, Greater London, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
They’re the little margins as it was 2-1 at the time and if those chances go in it is game over, simple as that. It’s almost like we make a mistake, we get punished for it. If the other team does twice they get away with it so we have to turn that around. The boys can’t keep working as hard as they are without getting the rewards and you can see it in their eyes and body language that they really want to do well. All I ask of them is as long as they give it a go and do their best for the club. We have only played 14 league games and these boys don’t know each other’s game whereas the Folkestone side have been together a long time which is something as a club we have to build on. We are building a brand new team and I’m sure by the end of the season we will be doing well and we will have a young squad with many players currently out on loan so will have quality and added to the experience we’ve got we will be a very good side.
Looking ahead to a special match this afternoon against Ebbsfleet United. The Fleet is a club you played for and will be a great chance to show what we can do against a National League club.
Yes, Ebbsfleet are a club close to my heart and I enjoyed my playing days there and the club have a fantastic, loyal fanbase.They are a club at the moment that you wouldn’t want to play at the moment as they are really going places with the infrastructure at the club and the Academy and are on the right track for success so will be a hard game for us but we will do our best to show what we can do and give them a game.
