Cray Wanderers begin a busy February on Saturday as Neil Smith’s side head to in-form Carshalton Athletic looking to keep clear of the relegation places.

Kick off is at 3pm.

The Wands in 17th place in the Isthmian Premier go into the game on the back of a solid 1-0 win against Wingate & Finchley at Hayes Lane last Saturday. Gary Lockyer’s spectacular 6th minute strike, his tenth of the season, made it twelve games unbeaten at home and also for Shaun Rowley, five clean sheets in six matches.  The Wands though will be looking perhaps for an upturn in away form after losing the last three league games on the road.

It was a very good all round team performance and followed on from the 3-0 win vs Fisher in the London Senior Cup and helped to erase the memory of the Wands last away match at Billericay on 13th January.  Defensively, Cray were excellent against a very positive Wingate & Finchley side and will need to show similar resolve like in the last encounter with Carshalton Athletic which Cray won 1-0 on 11th November courtesy of a Luke Read own goal and an inspired goalkeeping display from Shaun Rowley.  The Wands’ Tom Beere played for Carshalton that afternoon as a substitute.

With six more games in February following rescheduling, the Wands will be hoping that the likes of Nyren Clunis, Jack Holland and George Porter can soon return as the season enters its last three months.

The defeat to Cray on 11th November started a run of five straight league defeats for Carshalton but have been one of the form sides in the league since December with just one defeat in the last nine league games and moved up to 7th in the table on 42 points after an impressive 3-1 win at Lewes on Tuesday night with goals from Ibrahim Olutade, Oluwabunmi Babajide and Mark Marshall.

At home the Robins beat Potters Bar Town (5-0), Haringey Borough (1-0), Concord Rangers (2-0), Folkestone Invicta (3-1), Whitehawk (2-1), Kingstonian (4-1) and Hastings United (2-1) Carshalton drew with Lewes (1-1) and Hornchurch (2-2) and were beaten by Hashtag United (0-1), Canvey Island (0-3), Horsham (1-2), Wingate & Finchley (2-3) and Cheshunt (1-4).  Away from home Carshalton have won at Kingstonian (3-2), Enfield Town (3-0), Margate (1-0), Haringey Borough (6-0) and Lewes (3-1) and drew at Bognor Regis Town, Hornchurch, Chatham Town and Folkestone Invicta were beaten by Cray Wanderers, Hastings United, Billericay Town and Dulwich Hamlet.  Olawadumni Babajide is the leading scorer with 15 goals.

Last season’s game at Colston Avenue ended in a 1-1 draw on 30th November, 2022  with Dan Bassett, now back at Carshalton scoring for Cray and Calvin Ekpiteta for the home side.

Games between the sides have traditionally been entertaining affairs and with both teams needing the points for differing reasons this could well be another.

Admission on the day: £12 adults, £9 seniors, £4 U18s – Programme online.

Main picture supplied by Ozay Booth.