Cray Wanderers third away game of the week takes them to Corinthian Casuals (weather permitting) for the first meeting between the sides since 2009. Kick off at King George’s Field is 3pm. 
Two famous names of non-league football should provide as good a football match as anywhere in the country.
The Wands will be looking to bounce back after their three game unbeaten run came to a rude and abrupt halt against Walton Casuals on Wednesday night. The final scoreline flattered the home side somewhat as the game was very much in the balance going into the last twenty minutes which is where the wheels really fell off and Walton took advantage of wahat was a ten man Cray side at the end. Certainly, Walton boss Anthony Gale was very complimentary about Cray and the contribution we made to what was a very fast game, bristling with attacking ideas and skilful players.
Certainly for the first half hour, Cray carried on where they left off at Hastings last Saturday with a slick passing display coupled with a lively debut for striker Luke Medley saw the Wands take the lead through Karl Dent’ s composed finish. All hypothetical of course but if Brandon Scott’s audacious lob from thirty yards had floated into the net rather than drift just wide a two goal Wands lead might have been enough to deflate the home side. Cray have bounced back from disappointments before this season and there is no reason why they can’t again.
With the addition of Medley who has fifteen goals carried forward from his days at Chatham and Danny Haynes with twenty gives Tony Russell real proven firepower up front.
It will be another tough test on Saturday however as Corinthian Casuals have been one of the teams of the season and have been and around the top end of the table for most of the campaign. James Bracken’s side are currently fourth in the table on 52 points, and after two defeats to start 2017 at Tooting and at home to Lewes last Saturday, they recovered well to beat Molesey 5-1 on Tuesday to move up one place in the table. They are a free scoring side with Shaun Okojie the leading scorer with sixteen and they have a decent home record including a victory over Greenwich Borough. Away form has been pretty decent too and won at Carshalton, Hastings and South Park on their travels.
Corinthian Casuals were formed in 1939 following the merger of two amateur clubs, Corinthians and Casuals and were placed in the Isthmian League after the end of the Second World War when football resumed. The original Corinthians club were a massive influence on railway workers in Sao Paulo and after being influenced by watching them play in London, the famous Brazilian club Corinthians were formed through the railway workers. Through their links to the Brazilian club Casuals have toured Brazil three times including in 1988-89 when the legendary midfielder Socrates played a half for both sides and most recently in 2015.
They reached the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1956 losing to Bishop Auckland after a replay and spent many years in the Isthmian League up to 1984-85 when they were demoted to the Spartan League. In 1995-96 they were promoted to the Combined Counties League and within a couple of years returned to the Isthmian League. They met the Wands for the first time in the Ryman Division One in 2004-05 with Cray winning 5-0 in August 2004. They have been members of the league ever since and last season finished in a highly respectable sixth place.
The Wands have a very good record against Corinthian Casuals having met 10 times all in the Ryman South with Cray winning 9 and losing once. The last time Cray played at Casuals was in November 2008 and Cray won 8-1 with Scott Kinch scoring five with Leigh Bremner, Mark Willy and Tony Dolby on target. Later in the season, in April 2009 Cray won 4-1 at Hayes Lane with Lewis Wood scoring three and Bremner again scoring.
Two clubs with bags of history and tradition, the amber and black of Cray and the pink and chocolate shirts of Casuals coupled with a sharing of how the game should be played promises a cracking game where ultimately the punter will be the winner. We just hope the snow disappears and they have plenty of Bovril and Soup stocked up.