Cray suffered 97th minute FA Cup heartbreak as they exited the competition in a game that was slow to get going but ended in dramatic fashion.
It was a clash of Ryman League Division One North and South at Hayes Lane on Saturday for the First Qualifying Round of the oldest cup competition in the world between Cray Wanderers and Tooting & Mitcham Utd. Cray came into the game on a good run of form while Tooting sat in mid-table of their division with both sides looking to boost their coffers with the prize money on offer.
For a long period the first half was without any real incident with neither side settling down and lots of scrappy play and hold ups by a fussy referee. The main incident of note in the first 40 minutes came when Nick Humphrey made a fantastic last ditch tackle to deny Sol Pinnock a goal scoring chance.
Then out of nowhere Tom Jelley burst through from defence into space and curled a superb effort with the outside of his foot over Darren Behcet and just under the bar to give The Terrors the lead. Then just before the break Billy Marshall nearly made it two when his powerful effort from distance hit the bar. Cray looked better when they got the ball down and played, but too often they lacked composure and rushed the final ball.
The second half took a while to get going again, then the visitors took control for a spell with Jordan Clarke going close and also providing great passes for Marshall and Wright who both failed to beat Behcet.
Cray eventually started to look like coming back into things with twenty minutes to go and they drew level on 81mins when Shaun Welford had a shot tipped over by Paul Smith.
Then from the resulting Jordan Bird corner Dimitri Larin crashed home a header to level the scores. Tooting then rather than holding out for a replay threw everything at it and created three good chances with Pinnock shooting just wide, Harvey Cheadle forcing a save from Behcet and Tinashe Nkoma firing just over.
Then on the break from another Terrors attack The Wands broke clear and Welford played in Kerry Kedze one on one with Smith only for Referee Cook to call back play for a free kick for a late foul by David Graves on the veteran striker. Graves was then shown a red card and from the free kick Adrian Stone had a low shot saved by Smith following a scramble in the area.
Amid the confusion and the cautions the game looked to be going to a replay, but then in the seventh minute of injury time a woefully under hit pass from Bird across the halfway line was picked up by Nkome who sped down the pitch before taking the ball past Behcet and finishing from a tight angle in spectacular fashion to win the game.
This was a tough defeat to take for Cray who had shown real battling quality and character to get their way back into the game on for a poor mistake to lose it for them in the end.
Cray: Behcet, Larin, Fakinos, Fitzgerald, Humphrey, Stone, Beckett (Stubbs 73), McRae (Kedze 71), Welford, Daly (Marques 65), Bird.
Subs Not Used: Bah, Bozygit, Dynan, Williams.
Tooting: Smith, Jelley, Gordon, Graves, J Cheaddle, Knock, Clarke (Simpson 79), Quarm, Pinnock, Marshall (Nkoma 71), Wright (H Cheaddle 71).
Subs Not Used: Alken-Simon, Murphy, Hartburn.
Goals: Cray: Larin 81mins.
Tooting: Jelley 40mins, Nkome 90+mins.
Referee: Mr D Cook
Star Man: Jordan Clarke (Tooting)
Match Rating: 3/5
Att: 155