Cray Wanderers are on their travels for the first time in 2019 on Saturday as the Bostik South-East league leaders head to Sussex to face East Grinstead Town.  Kick off at the GAC Stadium is 3pm.

Cray maintained an eight point lead at the top of the table in dramatic fashion on Sunday as Archie Johnson’s stunning strike, six minutes into injury earned Tony Russell’s side a huge three points in a very tough game winning the match 1-0.

There was much to admire about the way Cray played throughout the game, defensively sound and also incisive going forward creating chances against a solid side.  This was the second straight match after the Sevenoaks Town win at the end of December which Cray had to dig deep late in the match and on both occasions Freddie Parker and now Johnson came off the bench to win the games.

The only down side was the injury to Aaron Rhule early in the game and joins Junior Dadson and Michael Power as absentees.  Daniel Uchechi came on and showed a lot of quality in his game and everyone put in a tremendous shift to beat a side which had won six out of seven league games.

East Grinstead Town lie 14^th in the Bostik South-East table on 22 points but will be difficult opponents and picked up a win at Hastings United at the beginning of December so can definitely rise to the occasion.  Last Saturday they came close to a win at Whitstable Town as top scorer with nine goals, Greg Cundle’s early strike was only cancelled out for the home side by an 88^th minute leveller and the game finished 1-1.

At home East Grinstead have picked up wins against VCD Athletic (3-1), Guernsey (3-0) and Sittingbourne (2-1).  They drew with Sevenoaks Town (1-1) and Haywards Heath Town (3-3) and were beaten by Phoenix Sports (1-3), Whyteleafe (1-3), Ashford United (1-2) and Greenwich Borough (1-3).

When the two sides met at Hayes Lane on 1^st September, Cray edged the game 2-0 with an own goal and a Ben Mundele header settling the game.  Away from home, East Grinstead won at Three Bridges (2-0), Hastings United (3-2) and Herne Bay (5-2), drawing at Faversham Town and Whitstable Town.  Their other games ended in defeats at Hythe Town, Cray Wanderers, Horsham, Ramsgate and Whyteleafe.

The teams have only met five times in the league with Cray winning twice, East Grinstead twice and one draw.  It might be expecting too much for a repeat of last season’s game in on a wet November afternoon with seven different scorers for Cray in a 7-0 win with goals from Mundele, Mitchell Nelson, Brandon Scott, Ralique Lawrence, Michael Freiter and Freddie Parker.

This should be a tremendous game in a lovely part of the world and it does help to keep the faith with this Cray Wanderers side as they keep on going right to the very last minute so best not to go home early.