Cray Wanderers are on their travels on Saturday as Neil Smith’s side head to Haringey Borough looking to bounce back from a couple of consecutive league defeats. 

Kick off is at 3pm. 

On Wednesday night, Cray’s unbeaten home run of 15 games came to an end as Potters Bar Town were 2-1 winners at Hayes Lane. The Wands finished the game well and Gary Lockyer notched his 11th goal of the season to set up a dramatic end to the match.  Certainly the performance of 16 year old George Brooke was one of the highlights of the match and there were also appearances for young players, Emmanuel Kwatchey, Josh Hallard and new signing Enoch Muwonge in midfield.

The Wands have built up a decent point total since the start of 2024 and are 13th in the Isthmian Premier League table on 42 points and are 17 points clear of the relegation places.

Haringey Borough come into the game in 20th place on 24 points from 33 games but have won their last two league games including a 1-0 win at home to Cheshunt last Saturday courtesy of Olu Durojaiye’s first half goal.  On Monday night, Haringey were beaten in a tight Velocity Cup Semi-Final at Hashtag United, 1-2 after Matthew Young gave Borough the lead.  Haringey are three points behind 18th placed Cheshunt and have given themselves a fighting chance of avoiding the drop.

When the two sides met at Hayes Lane on 10th December, the match finished in a dramatic 3-3 draw after Cray led 3-0 through goals from Tom Bonner, Anthony Cook and Ellis Brown but late goals from Scott Mitchell, Nadum Melvin-Lambert and Anthony Mendy grabbed a point for the visitors. The last time the sides met at Haringey was on the final day of the 2022-23 season on 22nd April, 2023 and ended in a 2-2 draw with Dan Bassett and Tom Derry scoring for Cray and Matthew Young and Jorge Djassi-Sambu scoring for Borough.

At home, Tom Loizou’s side have beaten Canvey Island (2-1), Margate (1-0) and Cheshunt (1-0) and drawn with Enfield Town (1-1), Dulwich Hamlet (1-1), Kingstonian (2-2), Folkestone Invicta (0-0) and Whitehawk (1-1).

Haringey were beaten by Wingate & Finchley (1-2), Horsham (0-2), Hornchurch (1-2), Potters Bar Town (0-3), Concord Rangers (0-1), Chatham Town (0-3), Hashtag United (1-4), Carshalton Athletic (0-6) and Bognor Regis Town (0-1). 

Away from home Borough won at Cheshunt (2-0) and Billericay Town (2-1), drew at Margate, Folkestone Invicta, Cray Wanderers and Concord Rangers and were beaten at Canvey Island, Carshalton Athletic, Bognor Regis Town, Lewes, Enfield Town, Dulwich Hamlet, Horsham and Hornchurch.  Matthew Young is the leading scorer with 14 in all competitions.

Games between the two sides are always dramatic and this promises to be no different and with the game being played on a 3G pitch this looks like being a definite Saturday matchday for the Wands.

Admission £10/£5 – Programme online.

Pictures supplied by Ozay Booth.