The Preliminary Round of the FA Cup takes centre stage for the Ryman South clubs this weekend and sees the Wands drawn away to face Badshot Lea for the very first time.

Cray have started the season solidly rather than spectacularly with two draws from their opening league games.  The Wands fully merited a point from a difficult trip to Guernsey on Wednesday night and can now concentrate on what will be a tricky cup tie against our opponents from Surrey.

There were plenty of positives to come out of the game on Wednesday especially as Cray were short of a few first team players and certainly impressed the good people of Guernsey as the Wands were complimented for their performance by players, officials and supporters.   In particular, the defence was incredibly solid and stood up to some good pressure from the home side in the second half and Nick Blue produced another top display of goalkeeping.  Also there were positive displays from Lee Prescott and new loan signing from Welling United, Jonte Smith.

The FA Cup offers different challenges and will have to produce a similar level of performance to Wednesday against opponents from the Combined Counties Premier Division.   Badshot Lea got through the Extra Preliminary Round with an impressive 1-0 win at ambitious Sheppey United so deserve respect.   Neville Roach’s side have started their Combined Counties Premier Division season fairly slowly but won their first league game on Tuesday beating Knaphill 2-1 at home so sit 10^th in the table after four games.

Badshot Lea lies in Surrey on the Hampshire border and the club were officially formed in 1907.  They spent their years as a club in Junior and Intermediate football as well as playing in nearby Aldershot leagues.  From the Surrey Intermediate leagues they gained promotion to the Surrey Premier league for one season in 1986 before a few years in the wilderness via the Hellenic League promotion was gained to Step 6 football in 2002-03.  They gained promotion to the Combined Counties Premier League in 2006-07 where they have remained since, their highest finish being sixth in 2010/11.   They had their best ever run in the FA Cup in 2012-13 beating Egham Town, Folkestone Invicta and Leiston to reach the 3^rd Qualifying Round before losing at Chippenham Town.

Should the tie end in a draw then the replay will be scheduled for Wednesday, 24^th August at Hayes Lane.