Cray Wanderers vs Hendon – Isthmian Premier – Saturday 28th December, 3 pm – Match Report
Cray Wanderers 1
Williams 90+5
Hendon 0
Cray Wanderers ended 2024 with a last gasp victory against Hendon at Flamingo Park with Josh Williams scoring his third goal in three games in the fifth minute of added time.
The Wands who were reduced to ten men following Lateef Adaja’s 87th minute dismissal deserved the win for a positive second half performance and moved up to 14th place in the Isthmian Premier as a result on 29 points. The game also saw a fourteenth clean sheet of the season for Shaun Rowley and another solid defensive display.
Cray were looking to bounce back from the narrow defeat at Dartford on Boxing Day but with Hendon on the back of five straight defeats this felt like a much more bigger game as the Wands looked to build on a run of five unbeaten home matches and a chance to move clear from the bottom four.
There was an unchanged Wands side to the one which started at Dartford whilst Hendon who were beaten at home by Potters Bar Town and into the side came Ronny Mfinda, Ethan Light and Tarik Gidaree for Kombe Kawinde, Dave Diedhiou and Yousef Chentouf.
On a murky late December afternoon the game began fairly evenly but Cray created the first real opening in the 7th minute when a ball from the right was held up by Nyren Clunis for Josh Williams down the left of the area who fired over the top.
For Hendon, Stefan Ilic saw a couple of crosses blocked and in the 21st minute saw a shot from outside the area go wide of the right post. Then shortly afterwards Ibrahim Meite found space inside the area but saw his shot blocked for a corner.
For Cray, Clunis set up Frankie Raymond who blazed a shot well off target and came close when Ike Orji’s cross from the right was met by a firm header from Charlie Edwards but the ball when just past the left post.
In the 33rd minute, Williams saw a shot from the edge of the D held by Luke Campbell but after this the game went through a scrappy phase ahead of half time.
The last action of the half came in added time when Adaja did well to cut inside from the left and saw his shot go fractionally past the right post.
HT: 0-0
The second half began with Cray on the front foot and Frankie Raymond’s cross shot in the opening minute flashed wide of goal.
Cray continued to go forward and from a corner down the right from Raymond towards the far post was missed by Campbell but the ball was cleared.
In the 51st minute, Clunis set up Nathan Jeche who was unlucky to see his goalbound shot loop off a defender and over for a corner. From the corner from Raymond down the left Jeche’s header went just over the bar.
Just after the hour Cray came close again when Williams down the right saw his cross-shot pushed out by Campbell but following up Jeche’s shot was blocked superbly by George Abbott.
The game was becoming one where one goal looked likely to win it Hendon got forward and Meite saw a shot go wide of the left post while for Cray, Raymond shot over the top.
Then in the 73rd minute Orji and Adaja combined to set up Williams who down the right of the area saw his near post shot saved by the boot of Campbell and behind for a corner. Then Darion Dowrich saw a shot held by Campbell while in the 81st minute Youssef Chantouf shot wide of the left post.
In the 84th minute Cray came closest yet when a ball across from the right fell to Clunis who was unlucky to see his shot come back off the inside of the right post and the ball was cleared.
It looked like Cray had been dealt a late blow when Adaja who was shown a yellow card for a foul halfway through the second half was shown a harsh second three minutes from time when he was adjudged to have dived following a challenge inside the box.
Going into six minutes of injury time for Hendon, Lonit Talla set up Niko Muir who saw a low shot saved by Shaun Rowley. Meanwhile for Cray, Rowley’s ball forward found substitute Kenny Coker who set up Raymond for a curling shot held by Campbell.
It looked like it was going to be a goalless draw but there was a sting in the tail and in the 95th minute Cray took the lead when Coker set up Darion Dowrich whose cross shot thudded off the crossbar but came out to Williams down the right of the area who placed a shot into the bottom left to score his third goal in three games and to all intents and purposes win the match.
Cray held out for the remaining moments to register another big three points and had deserved the win certainly based on an impressive second half performance and mirrored recent displays at home against Carshalton Athletic, Chichester City and Billericay Town.
Certainly Cray are ending what has been a momentous 2024 in good form and after picking up four points from three games against sides in the top four in the last three weeks now defeated one of the sides around them in the table which in the end could prove vital. Unusually Cray are six points off the bottom four but also six off the playoffs and on New Years Day face another side on 29 points in Dulwich Hamlet which promises to be a colourful start to the year and should be a great match as 14th meets 15th and should be a belter.
Cray Wanderers: Shaun Rowley, Ike Orji, Remi Sutton, Tom Bonner, Darion Dowrich, Lateef Adaja, Frankie Raymond, Charlie Edwards, Nyren Clunis (Michael Ihedi, 90+2), Josh Williams, Nathan Jeche (Kenny Coker, 78): Subs: Frankie-Jay Moralee, Freddie Warwick, George Penn
Sent Off: Adaja 87
Booked: Adaja 66
Hendon: Luke Campbell, Makai Welch, Michael O’Donoghue, Ronny Mfinda (Lonit Talla, 70), Ethan Light, George Abbott, Tarik Gidaree (Yousef Chendouf, 42), Kurtis Cumberbatch, Ibrahim Meite (Dave Diedhiou, 70), Niko Muir, Stefan Ilic: Sub: Youel Emmanuel
Booked: Muir 38, Mfinda 63, Chentouf 71, Ilic 89
Referee: Lawrence Torz-Brown
Assistants: Kennedy Kikulwe, Benjamin Kelly
Att: 744
