Cray Wanderers vs Carshalton Athletic
Isthmian Premier – Saturday 30th November – Match Report
Cray Wanderers 1
Jeche 40
Carshalton Athletic 1
Sankoh 38
Cray Wanderers edged out of the bottom four into 18th place in the Isthmian Premier after a 1-1 draw against Carshalton Athletic in a brisk and lively encounter at Flamingo Park.
The game picked up pace from the 35th minute when Carshalton were awarded a penalty and ex-Wand David Smith’s spot kick was turned aside superbly by Shaun Rowley for his third penalty save of the season. Carshalton who had been on top in the first half took the lead three minutes later when Abdul Sankoh tucked home a tidy finish down the left of the area but two minutes later Nathan Jeche scored his first Cray Wanderers goal firing in from Darion Dowrich’s cross. The dramatic half continued into stoppage time when Kwaku Frimpong was sent off for Carshalton for a tackle on Nyren Clunis.
The second half saw no goals but Cray came close to winning the game with Josh Williams twice denied by fine saves from Dion Henry and late on Lateef Adaja saw an effort blocked by Olu Atewologun but in the end finished in a draw as Cray continued a decent run of form against the Robins.
The game was the first at Flamingo Park in the league since 2nd November and on a mild afternoon totally in contrast to last Saturday’s breezefest at Canvey Island.
Cray began the game in 19th place and from the side which played at Canvey there were a couple of changes to the starting lineup for Cray with Toby King coming in for Lateef Adaja. On the bench for Cray was a new signing, winger Josh Shonibare previously with Derby County, Maidstone United, Cheshunt and Dulwich Hamlet.
Carshalton in 8th place are a very good footballing side and had drawn at Hastings United in midweek and there were three changes to their starting lineup with Oliver Hamstead, Tommy Bradford and Abdul Sankoh coming in for Paris Hamilton-Downes, Michael Dada and Bernard Tanner.
The match began at a brisk pace and Cray came close in the 2nd minute when Josh Williams down the right flashed a shot across goal. Then down the left Darion Dowrich set up Toby King for a low shot which was blocked inside the area.
Carshalton came close in the 8th minute when from a corner down the right, the ball came to Oliver Hamstead who with his back to goal planted a shot against the top of the crossbar.
Then, the very lively Sharon Ifeanyi made a run forward down the left and played the ball out to the far post where Kola Salami fired wide. This was followed by Shaun Rowley’s clearance being miss-hit under pressure and hit Frankie Raymond and looped over for a corner.
In the 19th minute Carshalton came closest yet when Salami was put through despite Remi Sutton being down with a head knock but Shaun Rowley made an excellent blocked save.
For Cray, Williams shot well wide and then at the other end from a corner, Tommy Bradford also fired wide of goal.
The game had been engaging but the last ten plus minutes of the half saw the match open up dramatically.
In the 35th minute Carshalton were awarded a penalty which at first viewing looked a bit harsh as down the left Ifeanyi was deemed to have been brought down by Ike Orji close to the left byline. From the spot though, David Smith who had scored five goals in eight games saw his penalty pushed out brilliantly by Shaun Rowley at his left post to make it three penalties saved out of five in match play this season.
That was a temporary reprieve for Cray when in the 38th minute Carshalton took the lead when Kwaku Frimpong played a superb ball through to Abdul Sankoh who down the left of the area tucked away a tidy finish and had been on the cards.
Cray Wanderers though showed great character to hit back within two minutes when the again excellent Darion Dowrich picked up the ball down the left and ran towards goal and put over a cross which fell to Nathan Jeche to fire into the net form ten yards for his first Wands goal.
The game still continued to be dramatic and before halftime Fabio Camacho-Saraiva’s free kick outside the area was deflected over for a corner for Carshalton.
Then, in the 3rd minute of stoppage time the Robins were reduced to ten men when Frimpong was shown a straight red card for a stern challenge on Nyren Clunis and the half came to a dramatic close.
HT: 1-1
The second half was a bit more pragmatic but was still an incredibly watchable contest and both defences and keepers were in top form.
Carshalton began lively and Ifeanyi saw an early cross cleared away while for Cray a good cross from Ike Orji was met by a header from Charlie Edwards which was claimed by Dion Henry.
After Lateef Adaja was introduced in place of Edwards, Cray created two big openings in two minutes with first from a free kick out on the left, Franke Raymond’s cross was helped across by Tom Bonner and Josh Williams low header was met by an excellent scooped save by Henry low down by the left post.
Then in the 57th minute, Williams came close again when from 20 yards saw his goalbound shot pushed over the bar one handed by Henry.
This was followed by Toby King playing a good ball through to Jeche who shot wide of the left post and then substitute and debutante Josh Shonibare shot wide at the right post from Raymond’s ball across.
For Carshalton, Smith from a free kick in a decent position to the right of the area saw his shot hit the frame behind the goal. Then for Cray, Remi Sutton’s cross came to Shonibare who set up King who lashed a shot wide.
With ten minutes to go Carshalton had a flurry going forward and Darnell Goather-Braithwaite hit a shot which Rowley got down to save. Then down the left, Ifeanyi’s excellent deceptive cross-shot Rowley got a slight touch to divert the ball and Bonner did well to clear the ball away.
From here though with the game going into the dying minutes and six minutes of injury time Cray came closest to picking up all three points.
Firstly, Sutton’s cross was glanced off substitute Kenny Coker for Jeche who shot just wide of the left post. Then from a Raymond free kick. Tom Bonner headed off target
Cray were unlucky not to score when Bonner played a ball forward for Adaja to chase down the right but Henry in goal was caught a bit out of his goal and a Adaja looked to shoot Olu Atewologun made a great blocked tackle and the ball was put behind for a corner close to the goal line.
There was still time from the corner for Coker to head wide but in the end a good game of football ended honours even and Cray had played well especially in the second half and merited at least a point at the end.
Cray move up one place to 18th place on 16 points and now as the year begins to wind down will be looking to continue to grab points to look to move away from the bottom four. Performances have generally been very good in the last few games and haven’t quite got the points haul deserved. Carshalton, still in eighth place, three points outside the playoffs look a good outside bet for promotion but Cray have matches coming up against sides like Dover, Billericay and Hendon and shows just how tough and competitive this league is this season and Cray will be fighting in all games to give them all a contest.
The Wands next game will be on Saturday 7th December at Bowers & Pitsea, 3 pm ko and the next home match vs Chichester City on Tuesday 10th December.
Cray Wanderers: Shaun Rowley, Darion Dowrich, Remi Sutton, Tom Bonner, Ike Orji, Frankie Raymond, Charlie Edwards (Lateef Adaja, 52), Toby King, Nyren Clunis (Kenny Coker, 75), Josh Williams (Josh Shonibare, 67), Nathan Jeche: Subs: Quade Taylor, Freddie Warwick
Booked: Edwards 45+4, Adaja 90, Raymond 90+6
Carshalton Athletic: Dion Henry, Luke Read, Oliver Hamstead, Oluwafikayo Atewologun, Abdul Sankoh, Fabio Camacho-Saraiva, Kwaku Frimpong, Sharon Ifeanayi (Luke Cook, 83), Kola Salami (Darnell Goater-Braithwaite, 62), Tommy Bradford (Michael Dada, 77), David Smith (Paris Hamilton-Downes, 90+2)
Sent Off: Frimpong 45+3
Booked: Camacho-Saraiva 54, Smith 64
Referee: Deryll David
Assistants: Alistair Potter, Bruno Marques
Att: 628
