Cray Wanderers are on their travels for the third time in a week on Wednesday as they make their first ever league visit to South Park.

Kick off at King George’s Field is 7.45pm.

Both sides will come into the game in good form, Cray have won their last two games and have lost one of the last seven games since the late comeback against Ramsgate on 31^st December brought a point and are ninth on 53 points.

South Park have won their last seven league games and although they sit 13^th in the league table, they have played considerably less than all the other clubs having played 24 games on 44 points.  Malcolm Porter’s side had a tremendous run in the FA Trophy taking them to the 2^nd Round where they lost to the 2000 League cup finalists Tranmere Rovers.  This has led to a bit of a backlog of games and they have eight in hand of leaders Tooting & Mitcham and fifth placed Greenwich.  This run has earned Porter the Ryman South Manager of the Month for January.

Cray have come back since the mini break for postponed games looking refreshed and after a 1-0 win at Herne Bay last Wednesday, the Wands stepped up a few gears and won 4-0 at Sittingbourne on Saturday.  This was a decent result as Sittingbourne have won since and there was a clinical and professional display from Cray, with the front two of Leigh Bremner and Luke Medley forging a good partnership which has seen Bremner get off the mark in only his second start since his return to the club, whilst Medley has three goals in two games and looks an inspired signing.

The defence has been stout and resolute with Jai McKinlay coming in for Paul Lorraine at Sittingbourne and looked in outstanding form alongside Jay Leader and with Grant Basey returning to the side there was a sturdy barrier and with Nick Blue looking sound as ever in goal, Cray have restored some defensive solidity.

Ben Mundele scored a deserved goal at Sittingbourne when he lashed home the third goal and Jey Siva’s delivery was superb throughout the game including his looping cross for Bremner’s goal.

The midfield also did well with Lea Dawson, Sean Roberts and Karl Dent in fine form and with games coming thick and fast and Cray very much still in the playoff race there is a renewed and energised look to the team which bodes well for the rest of the season.

The Wands have still to play at home, Tooting & Mitcham United, Dorking Wanderers, Greenwich Borough, Lewes, Walton Casuals & Corinthian Casuals all currently above Cray at Hayes Lane and have to travel to Carshalton so there are some big games still to come and plenty of points on offer.

There is no doubt South Park need to be considered a contender too for the playoffs due to the games still to play but at this stage are sixteen points behind Greenwich and nine behind Cray.  Since a narrow defeat at Carshalton in November the Sparks have been on a seven game winning league run.  Kieran Lavery is the leading scorer with sixteen goals.  He is a real threat from free kicks and scored direct in recent games against Tranmere and Greenwich Borough.  The FA Trophy run saw them beat Guernsey, Faversham Town, Hastings United, Oxford City and North Leigh taking South Park to the 2^nd Round where they drew a plum tie at Tranmere and were not disgraced in a 1-4 defeat.

South Park have made solid progress climbing the non-league pyramid in recent years.  Their climb up the leagues started in earnest in 2006 with promotion from the Crawley and District League to the Combined Counties Division One where they entered the FA Vase for the first time.  In 2010 they made their first foray into the FA Cup and after beating Greenwich Borough and Horsham YMCA they drew Cray Wanderers in the only previous competitive encounter at Hayes Lane.

The Ryman Premier Wands in their 150^th Centenary season struggled to break down their Step 6 opponents but a last minute Lol Hamici goal gave ten man Cray a 1-0 win.  That season (2010-11) they gained promotion to the Combined Counties Premier.  They reached the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup in 2012-13 and the following season, they won the Combined Counties league to gain promotion to the Ryman League for the first time.  Their first season in the Ryman South ended in a 14^th placed finish and last season they came 11^th in the final table.

This will be a difficult contest for Cray and will have to be at their very best to beat a dogged and hardworking South Park side but have given themselves a solid platform over the last week to be confident of a result.