Cray Wanderers return to league action this Saturday after two wins in the FA Trophy with a mouth-watering contest at Tooting and Mitcham United.

 

Kick off at Imperial Fields is 3pm. The match pits Tooting and Mitcham in fourth place against seventh placed Cray and should be a great game to watch between two attack-minded sides in good form.

Cray will be looking to regain some ground lost in the league following the defeat at Lewes two weeks ago and are currently four points behind the Terrors in the Ryman South table.

The Wands can look back since the Lewes game on two very professional performances against Carshalton and Marlow in the FA Trophy which gives Cray the chance to pit their wits against Ryman Premier Worthing in the 2^nd Qualifying Round next Sunday.

Cray made light of the absence of Danny Haynes, Jey Siva and Lea Dawson against Marlow to storm to a 4-0 win the highlights of which were Lee Prescott’s hat-trick, Bradley Woods-Garness’s super finish for the second goal and a masterclass of defending from Jay Leader and Paul Lorraine.  Strong performances from Ben Mundele and Brandon Scott down the right also caused Marlow all sorts of problems and were a deciding factor in what was in the end a comfortable victory.

It will be tricky though on Saturday as Tooting and Mitcham United have been one of the big stories of the early weeks of the season and led the table during September.   After a mini blip that saw them drop to fifth Frank Wilson’s side are unbeaten in their last three league matches and moved to fourth with a 4-3 home win against Chatham Town on Tuesday with 31 points from fifteen games.

They possess one of the Ryman South’s leading scorers in Billy Dunn who has twelve goals to his credit and will need to be watched on Saturday.   Home form has been decent with just one defeat so far at Imperial Fields and that was to Hythe Town.  However, they were knocked out of the FA Trophy last weekend when they lost 2-4 at home to Dunstable Town.

Cray fans will remember some good battles with Tooting and Mitcham United in the Ryman South and Premier days which included a playoff final in 2008.   On that occasion Tooting and Mitcham ran out 1-0 winners at home gaining promotion to the Premier.

The Wands would be promoted the following season and would meet for the next three seasons.  The last time the two teams met at Imperial Fields Cray were impressive 4-0 winners on 28^th September, 2011 with a Jack Clark hat trick and Mark Willy on target.  Cray won the corresponding fixture on 14^th February 2012, 4-1 with Tommy Whitnell scoring a hat-trick on that occasion with Clark also again getting on the scoresheet.

In 2011-12 Tooting and Mitcham were relegated from the Ryman Premier and have perhaps struggled in recent years.   Last season they finished 17^th in the Ryman South but got off to a flying start this season.

With both sides in good form this promises to be a November 5^th firecracker and there have been plenty of explosive moments already involving Cray this season with plenty more surely still to come.