Cray suffered their most disappointing result of the season as two early second half goals gave bottom side Waltham Abbey an unexpected victory over Cray which pushed the Wands down to third place in the table.

Cray had an element of control of the game at half time leading courtesy of a Grant Basey penalty. Ben Hunt was denied by two good pieces of goalkeeping by Aaron Omand before two goals in six minutes turned the game on its head and Cray were unable to recover sufficiently to get something from the game.

The Wands were boosted by the return to the starting lineup of inspirational captain Lea Dawson for his first game since his injury at Tilbury at the end of October. There was also a debut for centre half, Jay Leader who played alongside Grant Basey in the centre of defence in the absence of Ben Payne and following Nathan Fox’s move to Brentford with Sean Roberts at left back. Peter Smith started in midfield in place of Dean Carpenter whilst there was a place on the bench for John Beales.

The first half was one of few opportunities with Cray dominated the possession in the early stages but just lacking a cutting edge. Waltham Abbey looked a very young side who were buoyed by last weekend’s win at Phoenix Sports who defended well and denied Cray many shooting opportunities.

The first semblance of an opportunity fell to the home side when Yemi Adelani made a good run down the left to close to the by line when his ball across was turned away by Basey. Following this, Ryan Blackman hit a rather wild shot from distance well wide.

Cray looked to threaten from a free kick twenty yards from goal out on the right. Basey played the ball into the box and the ball was cleared as far as Karl Dent whose shot was blocked by an Abbey defender.

The Wands were the first to test the goalkeepers in the 23rd minute when Ben Hunt was played in down the left of the penalty area but his shot was blocked by Aaron Omand who did well to get to the ball.

Four minutes later, Cray were awarded a penalty when Dawson found Hunt who flicked a header into the path of Dent who inside the area was tackled by Jack Devaney and referee Daniel Simpson pointed to the spot. Abbey were not too happy with the decision but Devaney could count himself fortunate he wasn’t sent off as he was close to being the last man back in defence. Basey stroked home the penalty with consummate ease to give Cray the break they were looking for.

Cray then took more of a grip of the game but didn’t really create any more chances for the remainder of the half but kept the ball well. Macauley Joynes fired wide for Abbey after an initial effort was blocked by Basey.

The nearest Abbey came to scoring first half was a few minutes before the break when Ryan Flack’s right wing cross was nodded wide of the left post by Christian Assombalonga. Nick Blue then had to be alert for possibly the only time of the half when he came to punch the ball away from the head of Assombalonga.

Half Time: 0-1

If the first half was largely uneventful then the second half was a complete contrast as the game became more open as the home side looking to get back in the game seemed prime for Cray to pick them off on the break.

Waltham Abbey were indebted to their keeper who made two good saves from Hunt in the space of two minutes.

Firstly, a mistake by Tom Wood down the left let in Hunt who strode into the box but his strike away well by Omand.

A minute later, Omand foiled Hunt once again this time when Ade Osifiuwa down the right laid the ball into Hunt who found space inside the box but Omand did well to block his shot.

This save proved to be the pivotal moment of the game as almost straight away in the 52nd minute, Waltham Abbey pulled level.

An uncharacteristic mistake by Osifuwa who otherwise had been having a great game when he was dispossessed close to goal by the pacey Assombalonga just outside the penalty area. The striker had a quite bit of work still to do as Osifuwa looked to close him down, then cut back into the area and fired a shot low into the bottom right corner of the net.

All of a sudden this seemed to inspire Waltham Abbey who found confidence from the goal and a couple of minutes later Joynes fired over from twenty five yards after Darelle Russell’s cross was headed out.

Then in the 58th minute the home side went ahead when Ryan Flack put over a tremendous left wing cross to the back post which met by a strong header by Rimmell Daniel which gave Blue no chance in goal.

Cray almost got back into the game straight away with Omand again doing well to push wide Dent’s stinging drive from twenty yards.

Waltham Abbey had their tails up and almost notched a third when Flack set up Russell down the right who flashed a shot narrowly wide of goal and then Blue did well to smother a shot from Flack’s close range strike.

That came just after the hour and that the last time the home side really looked like scoring as Cray had the bulk of possession in the last half hour but found it hard to find a way through a now well drilled Abbey back line.

Tony Russell looked to add more guile to the Cray side with the introduction of Leigh Bremner and John Beales meaning Roberts could move back into midfield. Cray were unlucky not to score when from a Basey corner down the right, the ball fell to Leader whose shot was blocked and Hunt picking up the loose ball saw his shot also blocked inside the six yard box by a combination of Daniel and Bremner.

With twelve minutes to go Cray were denied by Omand who did well to react to Dent’s left wing cross which was met by the boot of James Duckworth who flicked a shot straight into the arms of the keeper.

The game became fragmented in the last ten minutes and the Wands last shooting opportunity came when Beales flashed a shot over from outside the area. Despite looking out on their feet by the end, Abbey held on after five minutes of injury time to pick up a win that seemed unlikely at half time.

For Cray, with the playoff pack getting closer and more teams becoming involved this was their fourth game without a win. They now have to dust themselves down and prepare for another struggling team next Saturday when Heybridge Swifts visit Hayes Lane.

 

Cray: Nick Blue, Ade Osifuwa, Grant Basey, Jay Leader, Sean Roberts, Lea Dawson (Capt.), Peter Smith (Leigh Bremner, 63), Karl Dent (Ray Powell, 81), Ben Hunt, Aryan Tajbakhsh (John Beales, 63), James Duckworth:

Subs: Ben Payne, Sam Faulkner

Booked: Beales, Basey

Waltham Abbey: Aaron Omand, Darelle Russell, Macauley Joynes, Jack Devaney (Capt.), Yemi Adelani (Junior Appiah, 72), Sam Robbins, Rimmell Daniel, Ryan Blackman, Christian Assombalonga, Ryan Flack, Tom Wood:

Subs: Theo Jones, Emmanuel Olukayode, Anthony Page

Referee: Daniel Simpson
Assistants: Keith Kennett, Chris Potter

Att: 68

 

Waltham Abbey                            2

Assombalonga 52, Daniel 58

 

Cray Wanderers                            1

Basey 27 (p)