The Wands made it through to the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the sixteenth consecutive season after victory against Combined Counties Premier Division side Badshot Lea at the Shawfield Stadium.
Conditions were ripe for a potential upset with a tricky pitch, idyllic setting and a strongish wind but after an awkward first quarter of an hour, the Wands settled down and in the end comfortably made it through to a meeting with Faversham Town on the 3rd September.
There were a few changes to the Cray line up to that which took a point from Guernsey on Wednesday night with Grant Basey, Sid Njie and Joel Ledgister starting in place of Timi Osidobu, Jonte Smith and Solomon Taiwo.
With the game starting with a stiffish breeze the home side looked a fairly assured side and looked to threaten mostly from long throws or set plays but the combination of Jay Leader and Paul Lorraine repelled Badshot’s early forays forward.
Cray had the best early opening when lively Brandon Scott down the right found Ledgister whose shot was deflected towards goal.
For Badshot Dave Parry fired over the top as the two teams looked to tame the wind early on. The Wands forced a couple of corners but had a decent chance when Scott again down the right sent in a fine cross which fell to Njie who fired wide under pressure from Alex Merryfield.
The Wands then started to look the more likely scorers and another opportunity came when Njie took advantage of hesitancy at the back to force his way into the box, squared the ball to Ledgister whose shot was cleared almost off the line by Merryfield. From the resultant corner, Basey’s inswinger was met by the head of Leader but straight at the home keeper, Freddie Gee. Following this exchange, Njie picked up an injury and was replaced by Jai McKinlay which made for a change of formation with Taylor McDonagh moving up front with McKinlay filling in at right back.
Badshot started to show a bit more around the half hour mark and from a free kick, Parry played the ball to Darren Blake who cutting in down the right saw his cross into the box cleared by Leader. Then Jacob McDonald found Blake again but his shot was half hit and was comfortably dealt with by Nick Blue.
Cray took the lead in the 35th minute with a fine individual goal. Cray got the ball forward and Karl Dent played the ball out to the right to Scott who took on the full back and beat him for pace. This took him into the penalty area and after working a bit of space took the ball wide of the keeper and calmly slotted the ball into the net.
Sadly for the home side, Gee was injured as Scott scored and had to leave the field which would lead, along with the Njie injury for almost ten minutes of added on time at the end of the half. Gee was replaced by an outfield player, Cameron Blackie for the remainder of the game.
Blackie was called in to action almost straight away after more good work by Scott found McDonagh who charged into the box but the keeper did extremely well to block his shot on goal. He denied McDonagh again a few minutes later with another alert block.
With the game now in the sixth minute of injury time, Cray scored again but with a goal that will live long in the memory. With Badshot pressing Cray won the ball back and 15 yards into his own half, Basey with an audacious looping shot saw the ball float over the keeper who was caught flat footed slightly off the line and into the net. Such a goal definitely deserved a bigger crowd and whether or not the effort was wind assisted it was still a piece of tremendous vision and skill from a great player to even attempt it.
The half was far from finished as Badshot almost came into the game before half time. Firstly a cross from the right was deflected wide of his own goal by Paul Lorraine for a corner.
Then in the last minute of stoppage time, Badshot were awarded rather a soft penalty when Kashif Chowdhary made a surging run forward which saw him brought down by Leader just inside the area.
From the spot kick, Kieran Maylen’s kick was saved down to the left superbly by Blue, who then excelled again by blocking a follow up shot from McDonald and a lively first half came to an end.
Half Time: 0-2
The second half was mostly controlled by Cray aside from one glancing header wide by Parry as Badshot looked to make a game of it.
McDonagh was denied again by Blackie and Dent saw a shot blocked inside the area as Cray looked to seal the win. The linesmen’s flag denied Cray a few time during the early stages of the half as the intensity started to go out of the match.
Cray finally made certain of the win in the 66th minute. Scott and Timi Osidobu combined to find Lea Dawson who played in Dent who was brought down inside the area. Basey stepped up to cooly slot the ball home to make it 3-0.
Cray came close again after that, when Dent was played through and his effort was cleared off the line.
In the 82nd minute, the Wands scored their fourth with a well worked team goal. Max Williams played a fine pass out to Scott who again turned his defender inside out, made his way close to the right by line and put over a great cross which McDonagh had the simplest of tasks to tap in for his first goal for Cray.
In the last few minutes Cray came close to adding to their score when from a free kick down the right, Basey’s floated kick was headed wide by McDonagh.
Then from a corner, Jay Leader saw a header blocked and then Osidobu was denied by the outstretched leg of the keeper from another cross by Scott.
As the game fizzled out, Darren Blake fired over for Badshot and McDonagh volleyed over the top.
In the end Cray showed tremendous professionalism in what could have been a difficult game for them and can now go on to the next round with the second meeting with Faversham Town in a week in what should be a cracking game.
Cray: Nick Blue, Taylor McDonagh, Grant Basey, Jay Leader, Paul Lorraine, Lea Dawson (Capt.), Lee Prescott, Karl Dent (Max Williams, 74), Sid Njie (Jai McKinlay, 26), Brandon Scott Joel Ledgister (Timi Osidobu, 49), Subs: Solomon Taiwo, Sam Faulkner
Booked: McDonagh
Badshot: Freddie Gee (Macauley Ford, 40), Darren Blake, Gavin Muir, Kashif Chowdhary, Kieran Maylen, Alex Merryfield, Cameron Blackie, James Pilgrim (Capt.) (Matt Stamp, H/T), Dave Parry (Ross Frisby), Jacob McDonald, Euan Aitchinson Subs: Josh Pound, Dean Sumbler
Attendance: 52