Cray’s hopes of promotion to the Ryman Premier were dashed this evening as three second half goals saw Harlow Town through to the Playoff Final at the expense of Tony Russell’s battling side.

There was little to choose between the sides in a rather cagey first 45 minutes but two goals in the first ten minutes in the second half gave Cray to much to do to fight back and a third goal just after the hour gave the scoreline a rather harsh look but it was Harlow who go on to face AFC Hornchurch in the final at the Harlow Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Wands looked to have their strongest side available for the game from Saturday’s game with Maldon & Tiptree with Nick Blue back in goal and Ade Osifuwa returning for the game.  Ben Payne and Jay Leader in the centre of defence with marathon man, Grant Basey making up the defence.  In the midfield were skipper Lea Dawson, Sean Roberts, Karl Dent and Aryan Tajbakhsh with Leigh Bremner and James Duckworth in the forward positions.

The opening exchanges were fairly frantic and nervy but it was Cray who had the first goal attempt in the third minute when Bremner fired a shot wide from 20 yards.

Harlow looked dangerous with Jared Small down the right and Junior Dadson down the left and they had opportunities to get the ball into the box but the handling of Blue in goal was secure and Payne and Leader were able to prevent too many scoring opportunities.

Cray broke out of defence through Osifuwa who made a good run forward and set up Bremner for a shot which went just over in the 11^th minute.

Cray were a bit fortunate when after a good exchange of passes with Dadson, Layne Eadie down the left put a tremendous cross across goal with no-one to apply a finishing touch.

Perhaps the best opening of the half fell to Cray in the twentieth minute with Duckworth being put through down the right and outpaced Harlow centre half Ibrahima Sonko and ran towards goal.  Goalkeeper David Hughes was able to come out and narrow the angle for a shot and in the end Duckworth’s effort from an acute angle was drilled wide of goal.  Five minutes later Tajbakhsh fired over the top but then the game became rather cautious with neither side able to make headway against two resolute defences.

Harlow were often guilty of over hitting their crosses into the box whilst Cray it seemed were quite content to sit and wait for an opportunity to come without committing too much to attack.

The last shooting attempt of the half came in the last minute when Eadie hit a decent strike from 25 yards which went narrowly wide.

Half Time:  0-0

Cray began the second half with two changes at the break.  Michael Frieter and Dean Carpenter came on in place of Grant Basey and Aryan Tajbakhsh.

The game was to turn completely in the home side’s favour and after an enterprising start to the half by Cray, Harlow took the lead in the 49^th minute.  Alex Read found Small who burst down the right and then through two defenders inside the area and squared the ball across to Dadson who steered the ball home.

This seemed the catalyst to spark the game into life but Cray were rocked on their heels four minutes later with a rather soft penalty award when Read burst into the box his backheel set up Craig Pope who was adjudged to have been brought down by Dawson and referee Tim Donnellan pointed to the spot.  In the 53^rd minute, Read despatched the penalty to give Cray a mountain to climb.

Cray almost got back into the game three minutes later with the award of a free kick on the right edge of the penalty area.  From the free kick Frieter’s curling shot was pushed onto the crossbar and over by the impressive Hughes and that proved to be a key moment of the game.

In the 62^nd minute Harlow went three nil up with almost a replica of the first when once again, Small proved a handful down the right and again just inside the area set up Piers Wixon for a clinical finish.

The remaining half hour seemed to fly by very quickly with Harlow dictating the pace of the game and almost notched a fourth when Read set up Eadie with a good chance but fired over the top when well placed.

The Wands to their credit kept plugging away and never let their heads drop or discipline to go.  They actually finished the game with a flourish and firstly Bremner who had his usual industrious game shot wide as did Duckworth in the third minute of stoppage time.

Then finally with practically the last kick of the game, Bremner volleyed over from nine yards out but in the end the Wands despite a tremendous over the season perhaps just ran out of steam and you couldn’t really argue that Harlow had deserved to win on the night.

We can look back though on a season when after three seasons of struggle, the Wands returned to the top end of the table and despite a spate of injuries during the season perhaps depriving ultimately of the championship, they reached the playoffs with a good team with fighting spirit and resolve and have much to be proud of.

So now we take our spring-summer break and can look back with a lot of satisfaction on the 2015-16 season and look forward to starting all over again in August.

 

Cray:   Nick Blue, Ade Osifuwa, Grant Basey (Michael Frieter, H/T), Jay Leader, Ben Payne, Lea Dawson (Capt.), Sean Roberts, Karl Dent (Jamie Mascoll), Leigh Bremner, James Duckworth, Aryan Tajbakhsh (Dean Carpenter)

Subs:  Sam Faulkner, Alex Hyde

Booked:  Payne, Tajbakhsh

Harlow Town:            David Hughes, Craig Pope (Capt.), Layne Eadie (Ryan Melaugh), Sam West, Ibrahima Sonko, Fabion Simms, Jared Small, Syrus Gordon, Alex Read (Leon Antoine), Piers Wixon (Mario Soto), Junior Dadson

 

Att:      832

Referee:  Tim Donnellan

Assistants:  Corey Snuggs, Jack Bloxham

 

Harlow Town                                              3

Dadson 49, Read 53 (p), Wixon 62

 

Cray Wanderers                                        0