The Wands suffered injury time heart break not for the first time this season as they let in a 93rd minute goal and finished a game they should have drawn empty handed.
Relegation threatened Cray went into this match looking to convert a recent run of draws into three points as they hosted ninth placed Dereham on a chilly Tuesday night at Hayes Lane.
The Wands manager Gary Abbott had stated on Sunday that his aim for the season was now to avoid a second successive relegation for the club which would see them return to county league football for the first time since winning promotion from the Kent League ten years ago, but instead they slipped further into the mire.
The game was moved back to an eight o’clock kick off to allow the visitors extra time to travel down from Norfolk through the Christmas traffic, but the long journey certainly didn’t seem to have effected them as the match began in open style flowing from end to end.
Dereham took the lead on 11 minutes when Ryan Hawkins ran through from midfield unchallenged and sent a low drive past Darren Behcet into the corner of the net for 0-1.
Cray responded with Laurent Hamici and Nathan Simpson firing wide from distance, but the visitors also had good chances to extend the lead when Behcet made a remarkable treble save from Craig Bussons, Ryan Crisp and one of his own defenders.
From the resulting corner Matt Hockley headed over, soon after CJ Williams cleared Hawkins shot off the line and Toby Hillard shot wide.
Then just before the half Cray broke up field and Tyrone Berry sent in a low cross for Kerry Kedze to blast the ball home from close range to level the scores and set up the game perfectly for the second half.
The second half was only two minutes old when Dereham went back in front as Aaron Kay hit an unstoppable drive from a tight angle into the roof of the net from 20 yards leaving The Wands faithful stunned.
Behcet tipped over Eastoe-Smith’s flick from Kay’s free kick soon after and Hillard just failed to connect with Bussons low ball across goal.
The Wands battled back into things with Berry missing a good chance shooting over when well placed and Shaun Welford had a header saved by Andy Wilton from a corner.
After that the game had drifted for a spell until Cray grabbed their second equaliser on 79 minutes when following a scramble from a corner Ben Hunt hit a powerful shot into the net from ten yards out to make it 2-2.
Dereham to their credit kept pushing forward and had the best of the final few minutes, Hawkins and Eastoe-Smith both forced saves from Behcet, but it looked like Cray would hold on for a point until the third minute of injury time.
Kedze and Berry conspired to lose the ball in midfield and Bussons quickly broke towards goal before curling a shot into the bottom right hand corner from 20 yards to win the game for the Norfolk side.
This defeat leaves Cray stranded in the relegation zone having taken one point from the last two games, which should really have been four given some cooler heads and better luck.
The Wands now host second placed Harlow Town on Sunday afternoon at Hayes lane.
Cray: Behcet, Fakinos, Simpson, Williams (Larin 69), Fitzgerald, Stavrinou, Berry, Phillips (Isa 8), Welford, Hamici (Hunt 61), Kedze.
Subs Not Used: Beckett, Stone.
Dereham: Wilton, Hawkins, Harnett, Hockley, Howard, Eastoe-Smith, Kay, Sturman (Smith 53), Crisp (Hillard 37), Bassons, Pace (Mason 75).
Goals: Cray – Kedze 45, Hunt 79mins. Dereham – Hawkins 11, Kay 47, Bussons 93mins.
Match Rating: 3/5
Star Man: Ryan Hawkins (Dereham)
Ref: Mr P Howard
Att: 72