Cray Wanderers begin the first of a double header of Bank Holiday weekend fixtures on Friday evening as Neil Smith’s side head to Bishop’s Stortford. Kick off is at 7.45 pm.
Cray will be looking to build on the confidence of the opening three games of the season and the 1-0 win at home to Canvey Island last Saturday.
Following the 2-2 draw with Bognor Regis, it looked like it might be another point gained but two minutes into injury time, Dan Bassett’s cross was headed in by substitute Billy Crook to turn one point into three.
The performances have been encouraging without Sam Wood in the side through injury and players like Alex Bentley, Harold Joseph, Jalen Jones, Mitch Chapman, Sam Skeffington, Bassett and Nyren Clunis have played well and Tom Derry up front has provided an outlet for the players to perform.
Skipper Anthony Cook has filled in as full back and shown quality captaincy and his immense versatility. Also there have been strong options from the bench with Crook on Saturday, Gary Lockyer, Ben Krauhaus all making key contributions and Jacob Munting and Sinn’kaye Christie have midfield and defensive quality.
The Wands in 11th place face Margate on Bank Holiday Monday and the FA Cup draw sees Cray travel to Bognor Regis Town next Saturday but the main focus is the strong challenge that Bishop’s Stortford will pose on Friday.
Steve Smith’s side had a fine season in 2021-22 finishing 2nd and reaching the playoffs and started this season with back to back wins, 2-1 at home to Haringey Borough with goals from Frankie Merrifield and Oliver Peters.
This was followed by a 1-0 win at Potters Bar Town with a Chris Harris goal but on Saturday, the Blues suffered a rare defeat in 2022 at Lewes on Saturday 2-1 with Merrifield scoring and lie 7th in the early league table.
The teams met as recently as 23rd April on the final day of the 2021-22 season with Bishop’s Stortford winning 3-1 in a game where Cray learned of their survival in the Isthmian Premier at the end of the match.
Bishop’s Stortford also won 1-0 at Hayes Lane on 11th December. There have been only two other league meetings with Cray winning impressively 5-1 at Bishop’s Stortford in September 2019 with the Blues winning 3-1 at Hayes Lane in October 2020.
The Blues had a tremendous run following a defeat at Hornchurch in early January and went on a 17 game unbeaten run including a 3-0 win against eventual champions Worthing and went 12 games without conceding a goal until a Easter Monday defeat at Cheshunt ended the run.
They finished 10 points behind Worthing to finish runners up but in the end were defeated in the Playoff Semi Final at home to Cheshunt and go into this season as one of the favourites to go one place better.
Friday evening games are rare for Cray Wanderers but this should be a fine game between two good sides and a great start to the Bank Holiday weekend.
Admission: £12 adults, £8 concessions, £6 students, £1 U16s, U12s free if accompanied by adult.
Pictures supplied by Ozay Booth.