Cray Wanderers complete their September fixtures with yet another top of the table clash as league leaders Cray travel the relatively short distance to take on 3rd placed VCD Athletic on Saturday. 
Kick off at the Oakwood is 3pm. It makes it the fourth local derby for the Wands in four away matches after trips to Greenwich Borough, Sittingbourne and Ashford United.
September certainly has been challenging and the last four league games have seen Cray travel to Ashford United and take on Hythe and Whyteleafe at home, all teams who have begun the season well.
The 100% winning start to the season may have ended on Wednesday evening against Whyteleafe but the unbeaten start didn’t in another high quality contest against one of the early season pacesetters.
Jerome Federico’s quick fire response to Bradley Wilson’s free kick for the Leafe put Cray back on terms. Both sides had chances to win the game but despite a red card apiece for both sides that didn’t tell the story of a fine match which ended 1-1.
This still represents Cray’s best ever start to an Isthmian League season and there were some very good performances throughout the side and Whyteleafe as with Hythe on Saturday put the unbeaten record to the test. The Wands will be without the injured Michael Power and Karl Dent against their former club.
VCD Athletic have been one of the pleasant surprises of the opening weeks of the season and won their opening four games in the league, all by the odd goal and although they followed up with back to back defeats a 2-1 win at Thamesmead Town on Wednesday night moved Keith McMahon’s team up to third with goals from Leon Lalor-Dell and Ali Fuseini.
They began the season with a 2-1 home win against Ramsgate with a player Cray know very well from last season, Charlie MacDonald scoring twice. He has five league goals for the season and scored 12 goals in 18 appearances for the Wands from January 2018. This was followed by a 1-0 win at Haywards Heath Town and a 2-1 win at Greenwich Borough. The quadruple start was completed by a 2-1 win at home to Three Bridges.
They lost their unbeaten record at East Grinstead Town (1-3) on 15th September and last Saturday were beaten (1-3) by Sevenoaks Town before beating Thamesmead on Wednesday. In the FA Cup they were knocked out in a close contest 2-3 at Hastings United and in the League Cup lost 0-1 at Tonbridge Angels.
This has the making of a compelling game and could be too close to call to choose a winner.