Cray Valley won their first game at step four following a convincing win over Kent rivals Sittingbourne and Anthony Edgar will be in the history books as the first Cray player to score at this level.
Sittingbourne came out of the blocks quickly as early as the third minute a long throw into the area by Lewis Chambers was punched clear by Andy Walker but only to Chris Bernard and his header was saved on the goal line.
Two minutes later Cray took the lead when Edgar’s shot from the edge of the area took a deflection which beat Stefan Lawrence.
It was nearly two from the the next Cray attack. A cross to the back post found Denzel Gayle but his shot was saved by Lawrence.
Both Roman Campbell and Tommie Fagg had already gone close before Sittingbourne equalised on the quarter-hour, a good build-up down the right ending with Shaun Brown’s shot going across goal and Campbell pouncing on it to score near the far post.
This shook Cray a little but they soon rallied with a period of possesion. In the 18th minute Ryan Flack saw his 20 yard effort go over the bar before Gayle put Edgar in on the by-line & his low cross found Flack who side footed it in from 6 yards.
Sittingbourne enjoyed their best period of the game in response, driven on from midfield by energetic captain Chris Webber, and looking dangerous from set pieces, corners or Lewis Chambers’ mighty long throws.
The second half was more cagey as both sides although playing nice football did not trouble either defence with real chances.
Sittingbourne went close a couple of times, West shooting over after a great build-up and Brown just failing to get a touch in front of goal from Enoch Adjei’s shot.
However it was Cray who wrapped the game up just after the hour mark. Kalvin Morath-Gibbs saw his low cross from the right find Smith at the back post who side footed it in from 6 yards.
The rest of the game saw both sides huff & puff but not cause either keeper trouble.
The final whistle saw Cray celebrate their first win at this level while Sittingbourne having lost the one point for their valiant draw at Whitstable for inadvertently fielding an unregistered player remain stuck without a point after their first two matches.
Sittingbourne: Stefan Lawrence, Lewis West (Festus Lori, 65 min), Abdel Ndew (Jason Fregene, 79 min), Lewis Chambers (Yellow card), Cory Walters-Wright, Lex Allan (Yellow card), Roman Campbell, Chris Webber, Shaun Brown (Yellow card), Tommie Fagg, Chris Barnard (Enoch Adjei 62 min).
Subs not used: Joshua Oliver, Caleb Roberts.
Goal: Campbell 16
Cray Valley PM: Andy Walker, Kalvin Morath-Gibbs, Danny Smith, Ashley Sains, Ali Tumkaya (Liam Hickey, 24 min, Yellow card), Denzel Gayle (Kweku Ansah, 44 min), Anthony Edgar, Ryan Flack, Emiliano Hysi (Matthew Attenborough-Warren, 75 min), Emmanuel Oloyede, Josh James.
Subs not used: Tommy Osborne, Max Ovenden.
Goals: Edgar 5, Flack 27, Smith 63
Referee: Kirsty Dowle;
Assistants: Matthew Goldsmith, Gordon Greaves
Attendance: 166