Hashtag United vs Cray Wanderers – Isthmian Premier, Saturday 10th August, 3 pm – Match Preview
Cray Wanderers start a momentous 2024-25 Isthmian Premier League season on Saturday 10th August as Neil Smith’s side visit Parkside to face Hashtag United in a fascinating season opener. Kick off 3 pm.
This will be the first season for the Wands at the new home at Flamingo Park and follows on from a hectic but productive pre-season at the ground with seven home matches including games against Bromley U21s and sides from Millwall, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur which attracted crowds of 701, 707 and 1047 respectively. The first league game is against Cray Valley PM on Tuesday 13th August but before that Cray face a tough opener against a Hashtag United side also starting life anew at Aveley FC after a spell playing at Bowers & Pitsea. The Wands come into the game buoyed by an encouraging 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur U23s on Tuesday night so ended a long pre-season on a high.
Since the start of summer Cray have added defenders Darion Dowrich and Quade Taylor while retaining Tom Bonner, David Ijaha and Archie Johnson while consistent goalkeeper Shaun Rowley has also re-signed for his third season and a game away from 100 first team appearances. In midfield, Lateef Adaja, Charlie Edwards and Arezki Hamouchene join Frankie Raymond, Nyren Clunis, Alfie Evans and Anthony Cook as signings while up front Alex Teniola, David Smith and Bradley Ryan will be hoping to provide the goals as Cray look to improve on last season’s 17th placed finish.
Hashtag United will be beginning their second season in the Isthmian Premier after finishing 13th place in 2023-24 picking up 59 points and scoring 82 goals which was only bettered by Hornchurch and Chatham Town whilst also reaching the Isthmian League Cup Final. The Wands new arrival Alex Teniola starred for Hashtag for the previous two seasons including the Isthmian North promotion season.
Jay Devereaux’s side will be tough to beat this season and have recruited impressively adding goalkeeper Jack Giddens who Wands fans may remember from his days at East Thurrock United and Bishops Stortford, Defender Quba Gordon, midfielders Darren Foxley and Alex Bolovan and experienced former Hornchurch striker Sam Higgins and in the last couple of days, Ayo Olukoga and Josh Rusoke have signed from Lewes and Concord Rangers respectively.
The two games last season, the first competitive matches between the sides both went the way of Hashtag who won 1-0 at home in December 2023 with a Luke May-Parrott goal who also scored in a 3-1 win at Hayes Lane in April 2024 along with goals from Sakirya Hassan and Pedro Carvalho with Tom Bonner scoring for Cray.
Hashtag United were formed in 2016 by You Tuber Spencer Owen as a club playing Saturday exhibition games which were filmed and became big hits on Instagram and Twitter (now X).
In 2018 the club decided to join the non-league pyramid and in 2018-19 at the first attempt were Eastern Counties League Champions and earned promotion to the Essex Senior League. They were 2nd when the 2019-20 season was abandoned and after being top in the 2020-21 shortened season were promoted to the Isthmian North on points per game. Hashtag finished 8th in their first season in 2021-22 and in 2022-23 won the title to take their place in the Isthmian Premier where they finished 13th last season.
With both teams looking forward to starting life in new homes this could be one of the games of the day in the Isthmian Premier and in the classy facilities at Aveley and not too far a trip for Wands fans for the opening day.
DIRECTIONS TO HASHTAG UNITED
Parkside, Park Lane, Aveley, Essex RM15 4PX
Admission Prices
£12- Adults
£7- Concessions (12-17/Seniors over 65/Students)
£3- U12s
U16 – must be accompanied by an adult (max 3 u-16 in a party to one adult)
Gates will open at 1.45 pm. Cash or contactless payment is accepted.
Match Programme: Online/Digital
Playing Surface: 3G
Driving Directions:
Clockwise on M25:
– At junction 30/31, Use the 2nd from the left lane to take the A13 exit to Dagenham/Tilbury/Thurrock (Lakeside).
– Take Ship Lane to Park Lane in Aveley
: At Mar Dyke Interchange, take the 2nd exit
: At the roundabout, exit onto Ship Lane
: At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto High Street
: Continue onto Stifford Rd
: At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Aveley Bypass/B1335
: At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit
: Merge onto Park Lane. Parkside will be on the right
Anti-Clockwise on M25:
– Merge onto M25
– Use the left 2 lanes to take the M25 N exit
– Merge onto M25
– Take the A2(E) exit toward Dartford/A225/Canterbury/M2
Via the A13
Follow the A13 until reaching the junction with the A1306. Turn left (Rainham/Wennington) then immediately turn right into Sandy Lane (B1335) to Aveley. At the next roundabout go straight over onto the Aveley bypass (B1335). At the next roundabout take the first exit on the left onto Park Lane, the entrance to the ground is 300 yards on the right hand side.
By Train:
C2C stations Ockendon and Rainham are the closest and most accessible to get to Parkside. Available to access from both Fenchurch Street/Liverpool Street and Southend Central.
Ockendon Station: The station is around 2.9miles away from Parkside, however, on Saturdays the Number 22 Bus runs from Elan Road to Hanford Road and the ground is a 3 minute walk from the Hanford Road bus stop. From Fenchurch Street trains leave at 23 & 53 mins past the hour and returns at 08 & 38 past the hour. You could get there via West Ham and trains leave at 03 and 33 past the hour.
Rainham Station: The station is around 4 miles away, and on matchdays there are 3 TFL 372 Buses an hour that take around 15 minutes to get to St Pauls Close and into Aveley, followed by a ten minute walk either through the Village centre or down the Aveley Bypass. Trains leave Fenchurch Street at 07 or 37 past the hour and returns as above at 03 & 33 past the hour.
Nearest Pubs are Sir Henrys (Romford Road, Aveley RM15 4XB or the Park Tavern also on Romford Road/Usk Road and The Top House, Purfleet Road, RM15 4DL. The Aveley Chippy in the High Street is the nearest Fish and Chip shop. If you get off at Rainham Station then close to the station are The Phoenix Pub (The Broadway) and close by the Angel Inn and also the Albion (2 Rainham Road) if you have time on your hands.
Aveley is fairly near for Wands supporters to travel and we have done so on a few occasions over the years playing Aveley and Grays.
Aveley is a town lying just on the edge of Greater London and part of Thurrock Unitary Authority and a Church of England Parish. St Michaels Church in Aveley is a Grade I listed building. There are a number of Grade II listed buildings in the town and has an agricultural background in that part of Essex hence the nickname for Aveley FC. Aveley moved to the Parkside ground, which was the site of an old gravel pit in 2017 and has helped rejuvenate the club and area.
THE PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS OF NEIL
Please see here an interview with Cray Wanderers manager Neil Smith ahead of today’s first league game of the season at Hashtag United. Here Neil looks back on pre-season and the positive impact playing at our own ground will bring.
Hello Neil. A warm welcome back to you, Tim, Alfie, Ally, Paddy and Robert for another exciting, rollercoaster season and one which promises to be a momentous one for Cray Wanderers at Flamingo Park. After a busy, six weeks of pre-season what are your thoughts on the new experience of playing at our own ground.
It has been a fantastic experience in respect of it has been a long time coming for people like yourself, the supporters, the Directors and Owners so it has had its special moments capped off by a fantastic attendance for the Tottenham Hotspur game last Tuesday night. This is the real nuts and bolts of it now, the new season is starting and for Tuesday’s match with Cray Valley PM, the emotions will really hit home that Cray Wanderers finally have a ground of their own.
I know you are a believer that this game is going to be the real opener for football at the ground being the first league match.
For myself and the team, for all you guys and the Directors who have been involved in it since day one there have been special moments like the first Women’s match and the turning on of the floodlights and they have all been leading up to tonight so there will be a bit of emotion going into this first league game.
The build up has been special, the pre-season games with the Millwall’s, Crystal Palace and Tottenham, to have those Premier League clubs come down and it was quite strange to have all your pre-season games at home as well but we have had to put Cray Wanderers and Flamingo Park on the map and to let people know we have a game at the end of their street, hope they jump on board and become firm supporters of the club.
From speaking to Sam Wright and others, it seems we have had huge interest in new season ticket holders from around the local area so we are going to have a lot more new supporters which we have been looking for a number of years coming through the gates.
Yes, it is good as obviously we will have games where quite a few away fans turn up but it is important to have a strong home fan base. We have a fantastic youth section, boys and girls which is growing all the time and we have an U21s team. You want to be able to make them proud by putting on the Cray Wanderers shirt and they start bringing their family and friends to matches and take ownership of the club so not just to play for Cray Wanderers but to be proud to watch us whether it is the first team or Women’s team. That was something that was always going to be part of the project, it wasn’t just about the first team but more about the club itself. As long as it is growing in the right direction there is a foundation to build from and from that point of view it has been a good pre-season.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game with Hashtag United. They had a bit of a settling in season last time out but seem to have recruited well with the likes of Sam Higgins, Jack Giddens, Darren Foxley and Olu Ayotoga joining the club.
Yes, they have. I believe they have put it out there that they want to be in and around the playoffs this season. They had the euphoria of getting promotion and carrying that into last season and they are just going to keep on strengthening. Now they are playing at Aveley as well, a fantastic stadium and pitch and are a club moving in the right direction. They were two tough games we played against them last season and I don’t expect anything different on Saturday.
Looking at the players you have brought in during the summer, the likes of David Smith, Alex Teniola, Charlie Edwards, Quade Taylor and some talented young players you have had to recruit well haven’t you with some departures in the summer.
Yes, the club has to evolve and you are always looking at areas you need to strengthen so we have brought in David Smith, an incredible goalscorer who came along and has bought into the project we are trying to build here and did have other offers and could have gone higher but wanted to be part of this. With the players we have kept from last season who did well for us like David Ijaha, Nyren Clunis who has returned from injury, Tom Bonner to add to new players like Quade Taylor, Smith and hopefully a couple more we are looking to get over the line for the start of the season.
It is going to be a tough season, there are some very good clubs in our league like those that have come down and those that have come up so it will be a very competitive league and it is only getting stronger and stronger. If you stand still in this division you are actually moving backwards so we need to keep improving and hopefully we have.
In closing I just wanted to say thank you to you, Tosh and all your team who work so hard in the dugout and all the supporters are looking forward to what will be a momentous season at Flamingo Park.
Absolutely, it will be a momentous season. Obviously, there will be ups and downs, it will be a bit of a rollercoaster but the club now has a base to build from. Cray Wanderers have their own ground and the supporters have been amazing going over to Bromley every week but now they have a home and from myself and Tosh, Alfie, Ally it has been a tough pre-season with players coming in and out. It is not necessarily about the results, it has been about taking a look at players and hopefully I have got the squad to help create some memories for the supporters and board at the new home.
