Cray Wanderers are back on the road on Saturday looking to maintain a 100% record away from home in what promises to be an early Christmas cracker against Horsham at Culver Road.
Kick off is 3pm. This match pits league leaders Cray Wanderers against 3rd placed Horsham in one of the matches of the day in the Bostik South-East.
Despite drawing their last two matches at home, the Wands have maintained an 11 point lead at the top as teams under them are taking points off each other in what is a very tightly bunched race for the playoff places. Such a case occurred on Tuesday night when Horsham could have gone second but were beaten by a last minute goal in a 2-1 defeat at Three Bridges but last Saturday had an excellent 4-2 win at Hythe Town.
Cray last time out did well to pick up a 1-1 draw against a tough Phoenix Sports side at Hayes Lane, on a wet and cold afternoon and after a bit of a sticky first half, Joe Taylor’s debut goal for Cray two minutes after half time cancelled out Alex Teniola’s plundered goal. In a good second half performance Taylor was unlucky not to claim a hat-trick as he saw an effort headed off the line and saw a header saved by Steve Phillips before Junior Dadson hit the crossbar in the last minute.
The character in the side is very strong and Cray are still 15 games unbeaten from the start of the season already an Isthmian league record for the club and a great achievement. Cray will be without Tom Phipp who serves the second of a three game ban.
Horsham have been one of the great stories of the season so far as well as an eight game unbeaten run from the end of September which took them from the lower reaches of the table to third place they also had two excellent cup runs reaching the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and FA Trophy.
Dominic Di Paola’s team began with three defeats in their first four league games but since then have put together an impressive record especially at home where they have won their last six league games as well as good cup wins against the likes of Carshalton Athletic, Corinthian Casuals and Potters Bar Town. At home they beat Herne Bay (1-0), Phoenix Sports (3-2), East Grinstead Town (3-1), VCD Athletic (4-0), Greenwich Borough (2-0) and Whitstable Town (4-0).
They only lost twice at home early in the season against Sittingbourne (1-2) and Haywards Heath Town (4-5). Away form has been good too, winning at Sevenoaks Town (2-1), Ashford United (3-2) and Hythe Town (4-2). They picked up a point at Ramsgate (0-0) and their only defeats came at Whyteleafe, Hastings United and Three Bridges. Top league scorer is Chris Smith with 7 goals.
In the FA Cup they beat Carshalton (away), Corinthian and Heybridge Swifts before losing to Poole Town after a replay. In the Trophy they got past Bury Town (away), Ware, Corinthian Casuals and Potters Bar Town before losing at home to Bath City in the 3rd Qualifying Round.
Last season Horsham finished in 15th place but often showed glimpses of what they could do including a New Year victory at home to Lewes. The two league meetings last season both went the way of Cray with the Wands winning 3-0 with two goals from Marcus Evans and a Michael Power penalty in September 2017. When the two sides met at Hayes Lane on a freezing and snowy Sunday afternoon in March, Cray won 4-3 with Charlie MacDonald scoring twice, Karl Dent and Junior Dadson on target for the Wands.
This has the makings of a great game on the 3G surface and a real test of Cray’s unbeaten record but one they will relish.