Cray Wanderers vs Tonbridge Angels – FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round – Saturday 12th October, 3 pm
Photos: Ben Keyes and Dave Budden
Saturday 12th October sees another piece of Cray Wanderers history created as the Wands host an FA Cup 4QR tie for the first time with National South Tonbridge Angels the visitors to Flamingo Park. Kick off: 3 pm. If the tie ends in a draw then a replay at Tonbridge will take place on Tuesday 15th October.
Photo: Dave Budden
In a season of many firsts, the club will be looking forward to the biggest occasion so far at Flamingo Park and a bumper crowd is expected, possibly a record attendance. Please note season tickets are not valid for this fixture. Admission £12 adults, £6 concessions/U16’s – U13’s, U12s free accompanied by paying adult. Supporters are advised if possible to purchase tickets online at www.cray-wanderers.com/tickets/
Cray will be playing their sixth FA Cup tie of the season which is also a season record for the club. Neil Smith’s side began with a replay victory against Larkfield & New Hythe in a record win in the competition, 8-0 with goals from Frankie Raymond, Nyren Clunis, Tom Bonner (2), Kenny Coker (2), Anthony Cook and an own goal. This was followed in the 2nd Qualifying Round with another replay victory, 1-0 at Wingate & Finchley courtesy of a David Smith strike before half time. Then in the 3rd Qualifying Round, Cray were 3-0 winners against Hastings United with second half goals from Toby King, Coker and Smith. This sets up a meeting with Tonbridge Angels in the FA Cup for the first time.
This will also be the third successive cup tie in a row and the Wands will be looking to bounce back from last Saturday’s penalty shoot-out defeat at Brentwood Town in the FA Trophy. Lateef Adaja’s first Wands goal just after half time put Cray level but ultimately went out of the competition losing 3-4 on penalties. Subject to a FA Cup replay, the Wands will be looking to boost their league form with three successive home matches vs Chatham Town, Hastings United and Whitehawk in October.
Photo: Dave Budden
Cray Wanderers have reached the 4th Qualifying Round twice before in 2005-06 after wins against Steyning Town, Kingstonian, Camberley Town and Margate set up a tie at the then top side in the Conference, Grays Athletic and three steps in the non-league ladder between them. Ultimately Grays won 2-0 but Cray were certainly not disgraced. Then in the truncated 2020-21 season wins against Fisher, Moneyfields and Bristol Manor Farm saw Cray drawn at Canvey Island but were beaten 2-3 on a very stormy afternoon.
Tonbridge Angels come into the game in 9th place in the National South and have become established in the division having been promoted in 2018-19. In the last three seasons they have finished 16th, 9th in 2022-23 just four points off the playoffs and 14th last season.
Jay Saunders’ side have reached the 4th Qualifying Rounds after wins at home to Merstham (2-1) with goals from Trevan Robinson and Jamie Fielding. Then in the 3rd Qualifying Round they also beat Walton & Hersham 2-1 coming from behind to win with goals from Liam Vincent and Noel Leighton.
In the league, Angels had their first real setback of the season after 10 games losing 1-3 at Slough Town last Saturday. Before that they were unbeaten in the league. At home Tonbridge beat Weymouth (3-2), Salisbury (1-0) and St Albans City (2-0) and drew with Bath City (0-0) and Hampton & RIchmond Borough (2-2). Away from home, Angels won at Farnborough (2-0), drew with Aveley (2-2), Chelmsford City (1-1) and Chippenham Town (0-0) and were beaten at Slough Town (1-3). Sean Shields is the leading scorer with five goals.
The teams haven’t met competitively since the 2010-11 season with Cray winning 4-0 at Tonbridge in September 2010 with Lol Hamici scoring a hat trick and Carl Gibbs on target. The last meeting at Hayes Lane was on 23rd February 2011 with Tonbridge winning 1-0 in a season they would eventually be promoted from the Isthmian Premier.
Tonbridge FC were formed in 1947 and were Southern League regulars in the Premier or League 1 from a couple of years later and had some good runs to the 1st Round of the FA Cup in the 1950’s and 60’s. In the 1960’s Legendary goalscorer Malcolm MacDonald started his career at Tonbridge before going on to Luton Town, Newcastle United, Arsenal and England plus former England manager Roy Hodgson, two future Fulham managers. In 1972-73 Tonbridge won promotion to the Premier Division and reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the fifth time losing to Charlton Athletic. Tonbridge Angels were born in 1976 after Tonbridge went into liquidation and at the end of the 1980’s Angels were relegated to the Kent League where they had some good battles with the Wands for three seasons in the Kent League in the early 90’s with Cray beating Angels twice in the 1990-91 season with Tonbridge managed by former Wands captain Phil Emblen. Tonbridge were promoted as Champions in 1992-93 returning to the Southern League.
The club moved to the Isthmian Premier in 2004-05 but were relegated to Division One South where they met Cray Wanderers once again and made an instant return to the Premier via the playoffs beating Dover Athletic in the final. Tonbridge did well in the Premier and finished 3rd in 2008/09 losing to Carshalton in the playoffs and met Cray for two seasons with Tonbridge being Cray’s first ever home opponents in the Premier in August 2009. Cray won 4-0 at Tonbridge in September 2010 but Angels managed by Tommy Warrilow after an iffy start to the season ended on a roll and reached the playoffs beating Lowestoft Town 4-3 in the Final. Tonbridge spent three seasons in the National South finishing 9th in 2011-12 before being relegated in 2013-14. In 2018-19 Angels under Steve McKimm’s management finished 4th and after beating Merstham in the Isthmian Premier playoffs won a Super playoff against Southern League Metropolitan Police to win promotion. In the first Covid impacted season of 2019-20 Tonbridge finished 15th on PPG and the annulled season of 2020-21 reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup losing to Bradford City at home but sadly with no supporters present. Upon resumption of league football from the 2021-22 season Tonbridge have finished in 16th, 9th and 14th last season.
This promises to be a very special occasion with perhaps a touch of tension in the air with the stakes so high and a place in Monday’s 1st Round draw up for grabs.
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THE PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS/PROGRAMME NOTES OF NEIL SMITH
This afternoon sees another piece of history for Cray Wanderers with the first ever home FA Cup 4QR tie and a chance for another with a place in the 1st Round proper for the first time up for grabs. Here Neil Smith looks ahead to the challenge and a look back to recent games against Hastings United and Brentwood Town.
Hello Neil. A big day for the club today with our first home FA Cup 4QR tie vs Tonbridge Angels. It is also another piece of history as our sixth game in the competition this season is a new record in the FA Cup. Today we play National South opposition in Tonbridge Angels who are a respected club at that level and have been there a few seasons. This will be a tough one for us won’t it.
Yes, it will be very tough. I know Jay Saunders and Lloyd Blackman who are there and I have played with them and coached against them and they are doing very well at the moment. Tonbridge Angels are a very well run club and we are expecting a very difficult game and they only lost their first game last Saturday. It will be tough but it is cup tie football.
It will be a great day for us either way today won’t it with a bumper crowd expected so will be all good for the club and for publicity going forward.
Absolutely, it seems that all the moons have lined up in our favour being drawn at home and with a number of local clubs not playing on Saturday and also during an international break so we hope people who don’t normally will come along and watch the game and their local club. Tonbridge also have a big following and can travel in good numbers. So not only is it a good day as a football occasion, it is also good for the club as a whole and a chance to earn a bit of money as well.
I know Gary Hillman, the Chairman, is very excited about the game and being just one away from the 1st Round proper and is desperate to get there as he has been close in the past. There will be plenty of emotions with the game being played at Flamingo Park in our first season there and hopefully we can do ourselves proud.
Let’s look back to the last couple of games, a 3-0 win vs Hastings United in the last round of the cup on 28th September with a professional performance and then last Saturday, defeat at Brentwood Town in the FA Trophy on penalties.
Yes, Hastings are a very decent side with a good manager in Danny Bloor and on the day all the boys were on their game. It was a tough first half and we weathered everything they threw at us and we grew into the game as it went on and got stronger. When we scored that first goal after that we were on top and three nil was a fair scoreline in the end and well deserved from the defence all the way through to the forwards and another clean sheet in the cup for Shaun Rowley without having too much to do.
Unfortunately we then go onto the FA Trophy tie at Brentwood and once again being a cup tie form goes out of the window. I thought we played well in the first half and dominated the ball very well and it was just a case of us finding that final pass or shot and Brentwood’s goal came against the run of play and was a poor one to give away.
The lads came in at half time and we all believed we could come back and we got the equaliser through Lateef Adaja but in the end both teams seemed to cancel each other out and it went on to penalties.
Looking at it from here, we have a run of league games coming up in October with three of them at home and at this time of the season a backlog can build up can’t it with FA Cup and FA Trophy games.
Yes, at this time of the season if teams have gone out of competitions they play more league games than you and then you have the catch up games and that is even without bad weather coming into it. Obviously home games won’t be an issue but certain away games can start to be affected so then a major backlog can build up. We only have a small squad so all of a sudden you are playing so many games. I believe in September we played eight games and only two were league matches so that shows you where we have to catch up. With the small squad we have to make sure everyone is injury free and have that little run of luck as well but we will put that to one side for this week and the thing about FA Cup football is you can dream, you can live on that “can it be us this year” and a club from non-league makes a name for themselves. We are hoping it may be us. Even with a draw and a replay we can be in the draw for Monday.
The FA Cup is the best cup competition in the world with the fact that non-league clubs do get the chance to play against league teams and I cannot think of one that gives so many opportunities. In many ways we have our cup final on Saturday against an Angels side who had their first real knock of the season last week so we have to try and capitalise on that. Tonbridge have some great players in their team who we have seen and it will be a difficult game but this is a history making year for the club and we will try to give it our best shot. After that we need to concentrate on the bread and butter games in the league and start moving up the table from there.
DIRECTIONS TO FLAMINGO PARK FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS
Cray Wanderers FC
Flamingo Park – Directions
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.
The Car Park is free for supporters and there should be space between 700-800 cars on site. Please note bays in front of the main entrance are reserved for club officials.
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
Close to New Eltham Station are the Beehive pub plus the Pope Street Bar & Kitchen and the Nest offers hot drinks/alcoholic drinks and live music. There are also places to eat and a wide ranges of takeaway outlets as well as Fish & Chip and a Pie & Mash shop. Alternatively if you travel from Sidcup there are a wide ranges of pubs to choose from.
