Cray Wanderers vs Wingate & Finchley – Pre-match thoughts of Danny Kedwell
Cray Wanderers play their first home midweek game of the season as Wingate & Finchley are the visitors to Hayes Lane. Here Danny Kedwell looks back to Saturday’s defeat to Brightlingsea Regent and the frustrations of the recent winless run. The interview was conducted after Saturday’s game.
Pics: Jon Hilliger
BROMLEY, ENGLAND – August 14: Cray Wanderers’s Manager, Danny Kedwell watches on from the sidelines during the Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Lewes at Hayes Lane on August 14, 2021 in Bromley, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
It seems to me Danny like we must have run over a black cat as luck seems to be in short supply for us at the moment. What are your thoughts following the game against Brightlingsea Regent last Saturday.
Saturday was just one of those games, we’ve had one or two decisions go against us in the second half including a clear handball in the box. It is just one of those situations at the moment and I’m not quite sure how to explain it when you consider the amount of ball we have in matches. When you play against ten men like Brightlingsea they sit in it can be hard to get centre forwards in behind and it can be tough to break them down. You just have to be patient, keep moving the ball and don’t listen to anyone else bar me. It might not be good for the fans to keep seeing the ball move from side to side but at some point there will be a chance to slide the ball through but just thought Saturday we were not patient enough.
BROMLEY, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 25: Brightlingsea Regent’s goalkeeper, Charlie Turner, makes a save from Cray Wanderers’s Adam Coombess shot under pressure from Brightlingsea Regent’s Jake Thompson during the The Pitching In Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Brightlingsea Regent at Hayes Lane on September 25, 2021 in Bromley, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
Where we haven’t had a win for a few games, the boys want to win that bad but are making the wrong decisions. There are players that are used to winning things in higher leagues in the dressing room and sometimes you just have to calm them down, tell them to play their football and not get too frustrated as there is a lot of frustration with the players at the minute. They are telling me what more can we do, a ball goes across the box and their player gets a toe on it, we hit the post or their keeper makes a great save. It seems every team that comes to us steps it up another 10% as they want to beat us with the squad and players that we’ve got especially after we won the first two games.
We’ve just got to keep on going, things will turn for us and I believe that but again we’ve had injuries Andy Drury and Charlie Allen have come off during the game and things aren’t quite going our way.
Also we have quite a few good young players in the team at the moment, Kasim, the two Freddies, Quaine Bartley, Archie Burnett, Jack Hanson but how difficult is it when you have had to make so many changes to the team each week.
BROMLEY, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 25: Cray Wanderers’s Quaine Bartley warms up before kick off of the The Pitching In Isthmian Premier League match between Cray Wanderers and Brightlingsea Regent at Hayes Lane on September 25, 2021 in Bromley, England . (Photo: © Jon Hilliger / HilligerPix)
It isn’t easy because you need a settled side for continuity but we just have to keep going on and off the pitch, we have to be bang on it at training again. When the boys come in for training they are frightening to watch but we have to convert that to the football pitch but it will come and we will gel. As you say there are new faces coming in which happens when you are in transition and it is a massive factor getting the right players in and trusting you have made the right decision to bring them in.
Saturday was difficult in that I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game. I spoke to Jack Turner and said how many shots they had and said three and scored twice, we must have had nine or ten and we came away with nothing. We are creating the chances but not taking them but it is about both boxes and we are not doing well defensively or when it comes to scoring goals. That is all we have to get right as everything else is fine just cut out the defensive errors and start taking chances at the other end. We need a bit of luck to score right now, the Regent keeper has made three good saves from Adam Coombes and Fjord Rogers and just not happening for us but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and just need to keep on going. Not just the squad, everyone. I’m frustrated because I want to win for everyone not just for the players but for the fans and everyone involved with Cray Wanderers and that is what is frustrating me more is that I know what the boys have got and it is not coming off yet.
We move on to Wednesday and another home game vs Wingate & Finchley who have been in good form lately. So good in a way to play a game so soon after Saturday.
Yes and I think we missed Cameron Brodie for the last game with the energy levels he brings but when you see the likes of Andy and Charlie come off, okay we have Adam and Cooky on but other than that we had a very young team out there and that is the thing. Do you go with experience and look to be more organised and not get overrun or go with young players and be patient and eventually it will come off. It might not happen this year and will take time but we just need to be patient, I need to be patient, keep our cool and help these boys get through it.
