Cray Wanderers – 2019-20 season – That was the season that wasn’t – A Pictorial Review
Isthmian Premier – Game 18 – Saturday 30th November
Carshalton Athletic 4 Pattisson 5, Korboa 21, Price 61 (p), Hamilton-Downes 67
Cray Wanderers 0
Cray Wanderers finished their November fixtures with a trip to Surrey to face Carshalton Athletic looking to maintain an unbeaten away record in the league. The Wands had been without a game the previous weekend and began the match against the Robins in 5th whilst Carshalton were 8th.
Games against Carshalton are always good, highly technical matches and this was no different with the home side going two nil up inside the first 21 minutes but Cray had a decent spell up to half time and Carshalton keeper Kleton Perntreou making two superb saves to deny Tom Murphy before the break. Cray looked to chase the game and two more goals for Carshalton gave the final score a harsh look but Carshalton had played well on the day.
Carshalton took the lead after 5 minutes when a fine ball from Kershaney Samuels sought out former Cray Wanderers youth player, Christie Pattisson who from the right edge of the penalty area hit a first time shot which went in to the net off the left post.
Cray began to get forward in response and Joe Taylor saw an attempted shot blocked by Daniel Pappoe and then Bradley Pritchard worked space outside the area and fired a shot over the angle of post and crossbar.
In the 21st minute, Carshalton scored a second when Ernold Haxhiu won the ball and played a ball through to Ricky Korboa on the left of the area and from 8 yards finished tidily to make it 2-0.
Cray came into the game more and Tom Murphy came on to make his first appearance since the VCD cup tie made an impact and from a free kick, 25 yards from goal, Murphy’s curled the ball round the wall but Perntreou did well to turn the ball round the left post.
Cray lost skipper Barney Williams to an eye injury but kept going and Ben Mundele made a strong run from half way and fired a shot over the top. Then Murphy came close again with another well struck shot which Perntreou pushed wide.
Carshalton started the second half well and Pattison was denied a second goal by a superb save from Lewis Carey who got a good hand to the ball and did well to prevent Korboa knocking in the rebound which came back off the post.
The next goal in the game would be crucial in deciding the eventual outcome. Joel Rollinson who had a fine second half came close with a shot from just outside the area which was deflected past the left post for a corner.
However, just after the hour, Carshalton were awarded a penalty when Korboa was nudged to the ground by Mitchell Nelson and Bobby Price scored from the spot to make it an uphill task for Cray.
Carshalton had a good spell after that and Pattison was again denied by a blocked save from Carey. Then from a corner Pappoe glanced a header wide of the right post.
In the 67th minute it was 4-0 when from another right wing corner, the ball swung into the area was headed into the net by Paris Hamilton-Downes and it was game over.
Cray carried on playing to the end and Rollinson saw a stinging drive turned over the bar by Perntreou. In the end though Cray’s unbeaten away run came to an end but it was a good match and Cray played their part in it. Cray dropped to 6th but would look to bounce back at home to Potters Bar Town the following Saturday. The teams were due to meet again on the last day of the season at Hayes Lane which would have been a dramatic end to an exciting campaign.
Cray Wanderers: Lewis Carey, Barney Williams (Andre Coker, 40), Tom Carlse, Jay Leader, Mitchell Nelson, Lee Lewis, Bradley Pritchard, Charlie Allen (Tom Murphy, 30), Ben Mundele, Joel Rollinson (Jerome Federico, 74), Joe Taylor: Subs: Geofrey Okonkwo, Grant Hall
Att: 332
CARSHALTON ATHLETIC vs CRAY WANDERERS – The Thoughts of Tony Russell
“No complaint really, it was just one of those games. We’ve watched the game back and they’ve had two shots on goal in the first half and scored two while we’ve had two shots on goal in the half and the Carshalton keeper has made two saves both from Tom Murphy, one a great save and another he’s turn round the post from a free kick. They’ve scored with their first shot and credit to Christie Pattisson he’s probably never hit one as good as that and it was a great goal. He was going away from goal, on the edge of the box and the ball was spinning away towards the corner flag and as it is set up on the half volley has gone in off the far post. You have to take your hat off for a goal like that. The second one, they’ve robbed us of possession and slipped in Ricky Korboa who tucked it away. We’ve looked at the stats of the game, we’ve had 56% possession of the ball, had as many shots as them and we were just not ruthless enough and that’s the harsh reality of it. We’ve come out the second half and it was all us and we had a chance to get back into it similar to their second goal. We robbed them of the ball, Murphy puts Andre Coker through and where Korboa controlled the ball and sidefooted into the net, Andre’s lost control of the ball and it’s gone through to the keeper. Three minutes later from a throw in they’ve won a penalty and effectively it’s game over.
The talk at half time was that Carshalton have had two shots on goal and if we get one we would go on and win it. We come out second half and Carshalton have started kicking the ball off the pitch and we have to take credit for that. They usually play out from the back, a fluid 4-3-3 and wander everywhere. They play against us 5-3-2 and not attempted to play in their usual way and hit it long every goal kick and counter attack us and let us have the ball. Fair play to them, they did enough to win the game that’s for sure but inside there is a compliment. The team that came second last season changed their formation, personnel and philosophy against us and it’s worked. I watched them play at Enfield Town last Tuesday and they played well, are a very good team but missed chance after chance and lost 1-2 yet against us they score with their first two shots on goal. They deserved to win, do we need to be a little bit better? Is it the first time I’ve had this conversation where I bemoan us in the final third and not sharp enough? No! I’ve had an honest conversation with the players and said this is holding us back. I try to look at scores when we win or if we don’t watch the games back and thought we did enough in the Carshalton game to get a result. After the third goal they started showboating which the lads weren’t happy about and we could hear them after the game celebrating. We just have to take it on the chin and use it as a fuel for the next game or when we play them again.
It was good to have Tom and Jerome back and to have those options available again. I thought Murphs did well when he came on. We had to make a tactical change early on and Tom was nice and bright. Barney actually got a football in the eye and basically scraped the eyeball and he just couldn’t see at the time so had to go to hospital and is really swollen up and couldn’t train on Monday. He seems to think he is fine and just needs the swelling to drain out but maybe 50-50 for Saturday. It did mean we had the option again of Ben Mundele at right back and to start making those marauding runs and is a good option to have”.
CARSHALTON ATHLETIC v CRAY WANDERERS – MATCH VIDEO – Courtesy of Robins TV
LEAGUE RESULTS – 30/11/19
LEAGUE TABLE – 30/11/19
