Cray Wanderers vs Hastings United – FA Cup 3QR – Saturday 28th September, 3 pm
Cray Wanderers aim for a place in the 4QR of the FA Cup for only the third time on Saturday, 28th September as Hastings United are the visitors in the 3QR. Kick off at Flamingo Park, 3 pm.
This will be the Wands eighth appearance in the 3rd Qualifying Round and the first since the 2020-21 season with the last home appearance in the 2012-13 season.
Despite struggles in the league Cray have advanced through two replayed rounds past Larkfield & New Hythe (8-0) and Wingate & Finchley (1-0) and on Tuesday night won 2-1 at Chatham Town in the Kent Senior Cup in the first of three successive cup ties. Goals from David Smith and an Anthony Cook penalty decided a lively encounter and set up a home tie with Phoenix Sports in the 2nd Round.
For Tuesday’s tie, the Wands had Shaun Rowley, Tom Bonner, Frankie Raymond, Nyren Clunis, Darion Dowrich and Charlie Edwards rested but still had the likes of Cook, Smith, Quade Taylor and Imran Kayani available and was a good warm up for what should be an intriguing cup tie.
Both sides have had indifferent starts to the league season with Cray currently at the bottom of the table on four points with Hastings who visit the Wands in the league on the 19th October in 18th place with eight points.
Hastings who finished 7th last season appointed former Worthing, Eastbourne Borough and Welling United manager Danny Bloor as manager in the summer and have advanced with a 3-1 home win against Redhill with a Davide Rodari hat-trick who also scored a 95th minute winner at home to Harefield United in the 2QR in a 1-0 win. Last Saturday, Hastings drew 1-1 at league leaders Lewes after taking the lead early through Billy Vigar. Hastings began the season with back to back wins at home to Horsham (2-0) and at Whitehawk (1-0). Since then at home they drew 2-2 with Bognor Regis Town and lost to Folkestone Invicta (1-2). Away from home they lost at Potters Bar Town (0-2) and Hashtag United (0-4) and drew at Lewes (1-1).
Last season’s league meetings saw Hastings win 3-0 at home on August 28th, 2023 and the sides drew 0-0 at Hayes Lane on 29th December.
The teams have met once before in the FA Cup in the 2011-12 season in the 1st Qualifying Round with Cray winning 3-0 at Hastings with goals from Tommy Whitnell (2) and Aaron Day.
Cray’s previous 3QR appearances came in 1967-68 (lost 0-1 at Dagenham), 1976-77 (lost 0-2 to Bromley), 2005-06 (won 3-0 at Margate), 2011-12 (lost 1-2 to Dartford), 2012-13 (lost 1-2 to Chelmsford City), 2019-20 (lost 0-1 at Haringey Borough) and 2020-21 (won at Bristol Manor Farm, on pens after a 3-3 draw). Hastings have been more familiar to the 3rd Qualifying Round with the last appearance in 2021-22 where they made it one round further. The previous Hastings United reached the 3rd Round Proper in 1952-53 losing to Norwich City after a replay and the current Hasting United club made it to the 3rd Round in 2012-13 losing at Middlesbrough.
With both teams looking to keep the FA Cup run going this should be a great way to bring September to an end and Cray Wanderers in a first season at Flamingo Park looking to add another piece of history and a place in the 1st Round of the FA Cup would be that bit closer.
Admission £12 adults, £6 concessions/U16s – on the gate or online at www.cray-wanderers.com/tickets/
Match Programme: £3, golden goal tickets £1, merchandise, programmes, hot food/drinks/bar available.
The Pre-Match thoughts of Neil Smith
This afternoon sees FA Cup action at Flamingo Park as Cray Wanderers face Hastings United in the first 3QR home tie since the 2012-13 season. Here Neil Smith looks back to last Saturday’s trip to Bognor Regis Town and Tuesday’s fine win at Chatham Town in the KSC plus the challenge that Hastings will provide today.
Hello Neil. A big game for us today and in the middle of three consecutive cup ties in three different competitions. Before we touch on today’s game, let’s look back to last Saturday’s trip to Bognor Regis Town. What are your thoughts on the game and result?
I was very disappointed after the way we had been playing after some difficult games in the FA Cup and I thought we did well in both games against Wingate & Finchley and was looking forward to the Bognor Regis match and getting back into a league situation.
In the first half, especially the first five minutes, going a goal down was always going to be difficult against a side looking to gain some confidence. So, not a great start and I made changes at half time and we were a lot better and looked like we were more on the front foot but it was always going to go away from us after giving a third goal away. The boys kept going, never gave up and when we scored we still believed we could get something out of it.
We were a bit concerned when Shaun Rowley went down with a knock but hopefully it wasn’t too serious.
Shaun got a cut on his forehead after a collision with Tom Bonner so wasn’t going to be involved against Chatham Town but hopefully recovers to play today. Tom had a lump on the back of his head following the clash and also wasn’t going to play on Tuesday. We have got a small squad so we have to make sure we wrap the players in cotton wool when we can. We were determined to give players minutes on Tuesday night who need them, Kayden Diedrick-Roberts who is on trial with us and a chance for the likes of Arezki, Dontai and Lateef to get some game time. The main focus was the game today and having a strong side available to take on Hastings United.
We bounced back well didn’t we on Tuesday night with a 2-1 win at Chatham Town in the Kent Senior Cup and a fine performance.
Yes, I was really pleased. We had a combination of first team players who needed minutes and young players from the U23s and also a couple looking to come on trial so to have that combination putting in that performance on the night was amazing. So after last Saturday’s result it was a nice boost for the boys.
We had to soak up a bit of pressure didn’t we in the early stages against what was close to a full strength Chatham Town side!
That’s right, Chatham has done well in the competition in the last couple of years so they tried to go for it. We knew it would be difficult and they did put us under pressure. We had Bobby Parks alongside Quade Taylor at the back and Ed Mare at left back and with Ike Orji at right back. It was a bit hairy-scary for the first fifteen-twenty minutes but once we settled down in the second half we really grew into the game.
In the second half we took our chances well with a superb volley from David Smith and then Lateef Adaja did well to win the penalty from which Anthony Cook scored the winner.
Yes, David just wants to score goals and prove himself and what a finish! Lateef has been very patient to wait for his chance and played very well. He and David caused a lot of problems with his direct running, won the penalty and up steps Cookie and you know what is going to happen when he takes them, it ends up as a goal. It was a really good performance and I was pleased for the boys who played on Tuesday.
Let’s look ahead to today and the visit of Hastings. We seem to always have tight and tough games against them especially at home and are now under new management in Danny Bloor. What sort of game can we expect today?
Yes, it will be a tough game. I get on well with Danny, he is a good guy who perhaps didn’t have the best of times at Welling United last season but he knows the leagues inside out at this level and higher. We expect a very difficult game but it is at home, it is cup tie football and anything can happen on any one day. We need to start better than we did on Saturday and on the front foot and continue on with a cup run to bring some money into the club.
With an FA Trophy tie to follow at Brentwood, the end of September beginning of October especially if you are still in the FA Cup the league tends to go onto the back burner for a short while with our next league game mid October.
Exactly, we haven’t got a league game for a few weeks which is why it was disappointing to go into this period with a league defeat at Bognor as ideally you want to bounce back straightaway. We have the Kent Senior Cup, FA Cup and FA Trophy consecutively which needs to happen as we have to get these cup ties in but you don’t want to go out either which leads to fixture changes later on. You would rather be in them, playing in them than not.
The important thing for us is to remain positive. Up until Saturday we were five unbeaten which included a good point against a strong Horsham side and two very good Cup replay results and performances. We were missing Adrian Owiredu-Gyamera last Saturday, Anthony Cook had to play out of position but as always gave his all in whatever position he plays. There were one or two who didn’t play as well as they could and you can’t go into these games with one or two missing you have to have eleven all on it. You saw once we made changes we had more intensity. We know what the situation is but we will be fighting all the way to get as many points as we can in the league and try to do as well as we can in the cups as well including this afternoon.
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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 – TAXIS – ALL DAY CARS – NEW ELTHAM – 020 8850 0032
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
