Cray Wanderers vs Burgess Hill Town – Isthmian League Premier – Saturday 22nd November, 3 pm – Match Preview
Photos 1,2 @KGTopsnapper, 3, Grace D’Souza
Cray Wanderers play the final home game of November on Saturday as the Wands welcome Burgess Hill Town for their first visit to Flamingo Park as 6th hosts 9th in the Isthmian Premier League table.
Cray will be looking to build on the momentum of last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Welling United which ended a six game run without a win with a professional performance which moved Cray up to sixth on 27 points from 18 games played.
The Wands were looking to bounce back from the heavy league defeat at Folkestone Invicta on 11th November and took the lead after four minutes when Harry Waldock crashed home his first goal for the club. This was followed half an hour later when Alex Hernandez netted his seventh of the season turning in Lateef Adaja’s cross and could even afford the luxury of having a penalty kick saved before half time.
The second half saw a fine defensive performance which restricted the home side too few if any chances and Josh Williams, Adaja and Chris Dickson could have added to the scoreline but in the end Cray had done enough to for the three points.
Cray will now try to get back to winning ways at Flamingo Park after three league matches without a win and two without a goal although two of those games have been draws.
The Wand will welcome Burgess Hill Town who achieved promotion last season from the Isthmian South-East via the playoffs and have had a solid start to the campaign and Gary Mansell’s side are unbeaten in their last four league and cup games. The Hillians stand ninth on 23 points from 16 games played.
Last Saturday, Burgess Hill earned a point from a 1-1 draw at home to Dulwich Hamlet with Glen Rea’s netting a 97th minute equaliser. On Tuesday night Burgess Hill edged AFC Whyteleafe 2-1 at home in the Velocity League Cup 3rd Round with goals from Ben Pope and Luke Gambin.
Burgess Hill last season finished 3rd in the Isthmian South-East and achieved promotion by beating Margate in the Semi-Final and Sittingbourne on penalties in the final to return to the Premier for the first time since 2018-19.
Due to a 3G pitch being laid at their home ground they played their first six league games away from home and picked up wins at Potters Bar Town (1-0), Cray Valley PM (2-1), Carshalton Athletic (2-0) and Welling United (2-1). The Hillians drew at Aveley (3-3), Cheshunt (1-1) and Dartford (3-3) and were beaten at Brentwood Town (1-2) and Lewes (0-3). At home Burgess Hill beat Hashtag United (2-0) and Cray Valley PM (1-0), drew with Dartford and were beaten by Folkestone Invicta, Carshalton Athletic and Canvey Island. In the FA Cup Burgess Hill after winning at Wokingham were beaten at home by Farnham Town in the 2nd Qualifying Round and in the FA Trophy defeated Potters Bar Town on penalties before losing at home to Folkestone Invicta in the 1st Round. Leading scorer is Chris Whelpdale with nine goals.
Burgess Hill Town were Cray Wanderers first ever opponents in the Isthmian League on 14th August 2004 with Cray winning 2-1 with goals from Jamie Kempster and Leigh Bremner. This was also Burgess Hill Town’s first Isthmian League game.
The teams met in the Isthmian Division One and Division One South for five seasons meeting ten times with Cray winning seven, Burgess Hill two and one draw. The last league meeting at Cray was at Hayes Lane on 14th February 2009 with the Wands winning 3-0 with Lewis Wood scoring twice and Richmond Kissi also on target.
Burgess Hill Town were formed in 1882 and spent most of their footballing journey in the Sussex leagues and were Sussex League Champions on six occasions, the last in 2002-03. They joined the Isthmian League Division One in 2004-05 and remained at Step 4 until 2014-15 when they earned promotion to the Premier as South Champions in 2014-15 and spent four seasons there before relegation to the South-East in 2018-19 before returning via the playoffs last season.
This will be a stern test for the Wands against a side that has found its feet in the Isthmian Premier but with both teams in the upper half of the table should be a good game to watch.
Admission £15 adults, £10 concessions, £5 U16s – U13s – on gate or online at www.cray-wanderers.com/tickets/
Printed Match Programme: £3 available on the turnstile, merchandise, Golden Goal tickets (£1), November 100 Club Draw, hot/cold food and drinks, bars.
THE PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS/PROGRAMME NOTES OF TIM O’SHEA
Cray Wanderers return to Flamingo Park this afternoon with the visit of one of last season’s promoted clubs from the Isthmian South-East, Burgess Hill Town who have begun well back in the Isthmian Premier. The Wands come into the game after contrasting away games with a huge bounce back from the defeat at Folkestone to win at Welling last Saturday. Please see here the thoughts of Tim O’Shea as conducted by Luca Viscogliosi from Radio Wands.
Hello Tosh. A great result for us at Welling United and a great bounce back from Tuesday night and the heavy defeat at Folkestone. I thought the boys showed a lot of guts and character and a huge turnaround from Tuesday night.
It was, it didn’t need much of a team talk to be honest with you. There was a question mark because when you have been beaten 8-1 like on Tuesday evening it can leave scars you just don’t know as there were a lot of young players out there especially going from Tuesday to another game so quickly. As you said the boys showed a lot of grit and determination. There was a great crowd, a bit hostile but they dug deep and I thought they were very manly on the day.
Let’s talk about the first goal scored by Harry Waldock. He is a player that just runs and runs. He hit the post from a similar angle at Cheshunt earlier this month. I messaged him on the Friday to say if you have a pop when you get a chance the Welling keeper isn’t the biggest and he did hit it very well. I almost thought that settled us down as it was rather hostile as you said in the early stages and responded brilliantly in the first half.
It does and that early goal is what has been lacking from some games this season with Cheshunt being one of them. You dominate teams for ten – fifteen minutes and the difference is that one goes in, against Cheshunt he hit the post and it came back out. I can think of two or three games such as Ramsgate away where we dominated the first twenty minutes and created three or four chances. If you can score in those spells it settles down the whole team. If ever that was needed it was after Tuesday. It settled us down and gave us belief.
Harry never played at Folkestone and in many ways glad he wasn’t as he has just carried on and where he has left off in his last game against Chichester. He is a great talent and has a bright future. He does run but has quality on the ball as well and his finish for the goal was no fluke.
We get a second goal to take into half time scored by Alex Hernandez and also miss a penalty which could have made it 3-0. So we could have felt sorry for ourselves for perhaps not killing the game off and could have retreated and gone deep but I thought we were very professional restricting Welling to perhaps a couple of crosses across the box which Harry Seaden did very well with.
Yes, I have to give credit to the back four as well especially Quade and Remi. They are such honest guys who knew they let themselves down on Tuesday which is not taking anything away from the beating we got. Adrian Gyamera has again done well, Frankie Morgan still working his way back to full fitness. Every man put in a shift against Welling especially the young lad up top, what’s his name! Chris Dickson. He put in such a great performance and when he saw Alex go down probably thought he was going to have to do ninety minutes. He dug in and also Josh Williams was working hard going back the other way. Lateef and Ashley do it also. The only disappointing thing was that we picked up a couple of injuries but hopefully not too long term.
Just a word on Quade Taylor as it cannot be easy battling for a first team place with Tom Bonner. He seems to win every ball in the air and seems to be a calming influence for the team.
We are very lucky to have a player like Quade with us in the squad because he gives you balance, maturity and a voice in training and always geeing people on and very selfless. As I’ve said before it not about eleven players it’s about having a squad of players. He probably knows that when Tom plays it will be him and Remi at the back but he never moans, gets on with it and he is seamless and he is a magnificent human being. We are fortunate to have him.
Finally let’s move on to today and Burgess Hill Town. They are a side who have carried on the momentum from promotion last season and find that with promoted clubs, they are used to winning and after a shaky start look like competing for a playoff place so it will be a tough game.
It will be. They came to Welling recently and won 2-1 which was a great result for them and they are a good footballing side, they don’t go off script and play the game well. As you say you do get that momentum if you have been used to winning like Cray Valley had last season. Burgess Hill have carried that on and probably fear no-one and enjoying life in the Premier and it will be a tough game without a shadow of a doubt.
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DIRECTIONS TO CRAY WANDERERS FC
Flamingo Park Sports & Leisure – Sidcup By-Pass, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HL
Flamingo Park lies on the A20 and is the new home of Cray Wanderers and used for the Men and Women’s First Team, U23s, Youth Team games, Academy side and the club house hosts live music and private events. For the 2024-25 season Bexley FC will also play their Kent County League Premier games at Flamingo Park.
By car
From Kent – Via M20 or A2
M20 – Follow the M20 for 16.8 miles then continue on to A20 for 3.6 miles then continue on to Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 1.9 miles. Continue onto Sidcup By-Pass/A20 for 0.3 miles then take a left into the ground entrance and another left for the car park.
A2 – Get on the M2 from A229 for 5.1 miles. After merging onto the M2 after 5.5 miles continue onto Watling Street/A2 for 8.7 miles. Use the left lane to take the M25 (S) slip road to M23 for 0.7 miles. Merge onto the M25 for 2.4 miles then at junction 3, exit towards A20/London (SE)/Swanley for 0.3 miles. At the Swanley interchange, take the 5th exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.8 miles. Merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles then continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 1.9 miles. Continue onto Sidcup By-Pass/A20 for 0.3 miles then take a left into the ground entrance and another left for the car park.
From London, North & West
Via A20 – If traveling from London take A3212, A302 and Westminster Bridge Road and at the roundabout take the 3rd exit onto St. George’s Circus/A201 and after 0.3 miles turn left onto New Kent Road/A201 for 0.5 miles. Then keep right staying on New Kent Road/A201 for 0.4 miles and then onto Old Kent Road/A2 for 2.6 miles. Take a slight right onto Amersham Road/A2/A20 then a left onto Amersham Road/A20 for 0.2 miles. Take a slight right onto Lewisham Way/A20 for 1.1 miles and then use the left 3 lanes to turn left onto Rennell Street/A20 for 1.9 miles. Use the right 2 lanes to turn slightly onto Sidcup Road/A20 for 0.3 miles then at the roundabout take the 2nd exit and stay on Sidcup Road/A20 for 3.7 miles. Then take the A222 towards Bromley/Chislehurst/Sidcup for 0.2 miles then at Frognal Corner Roundabout take the 4th exit onto the A20 slip road to C. London/Lewisham for 0.3 miles. Then merge onto the Sidcup By-Pass Road/A20 for 0.6 miles and then onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles. Then take a left into the entrance to the ground and another left into the car park.
From Essex/East Anglia
Via A13 – If traveling from Essex/East Anglia get onto the A13 for 11.6 miles. Use the left lane to take the M25 (N)/M25 (S) slip road to M11/M1/Stansted Airport/Dartford Crossing/A282 for 0.2 miles. At Mardyke Junction take the 1st exit for 0.3 miles and then use the right lane to take the A282 slip road to M25 (S)/Dartford Crossing then keep right at the fork to continue towards A282 for 3.8 miles. Use the right 3 lanes to stay on A282 then follow signs for M20/M23/Gatwick Airport /M25/Channel Tunnel/Dover for 0.6 miles. Continue onto M25 (signs for Dover/M20/Channel Tunnel/M23 for 3.3 miles. At junction 3 exit towards A20/London (SE)/Swanley for 0.3 miles and at Swanley Interchange take the 5th exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.8 miles. Then merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles, continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Rd/A20 for 1.9 miles and then continue onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles then turn left into the entrance to the ground and then a left into the car park.
From: Sussex/South
If traveling from Sussex/South best get on Hastings Road/Pembury By-Pass/A21 in Kent from A267 and after 9.4 miles continue straight onto Sevenoaks Bypass/A21 for 3.8 miles and then keep right to continue onto M25. After 7.9 miles at junction 3 use the left 2 lanes to take the A20 exit to London/Lewisham/Channel Tunnel/Maidstone/M20 for 0.3 miles. At Swanley Interchange take the 2nd exit onto the A20 slip road to London (SE)/Lewisham for 0.5 miles. Merge onto the A20 for 3.5 miles, continue onto Sidcup By-Pass Rd/A20 for 1.9 miles and then continue onto the Sidcup By-Pass for 0.3 miles then turn left into the entrance to the ground and then a left into the car park.
The Car Park is free for supporters and there should be space between 400 cars on site. Please note bays in front of the main entrance are reserved for club officials.
By Train – Nearest BR Station – New Eltham – 1 mile. Trains from London Charing Cross/London Cannon Street/London Bridge or from Dartford/Gravesend. There are four trains an hour heading to New Eltham from London Charing Cross. For returns there are also four trains back to London.
From the station walk south-east onto Foots Cray Road/A211 for 0.3 miles then turn right onto Thaxted Road for 0.2 miles. Then turn left towards Sidcup Road/A20 and cross over the pedestrian footbridge and take a sharp and then a slight right towards Sidcup Road/A20 for 0.4 miles and then turn right and then a left into the entrance to the ground.
By Bus – The best bet is to get the 233 from Swanley, Sidcup, Eltham or New Eltham which stops on Thaxted Road but is around 0.8 miles to the ground. From Chislehurst station the 162 bus which starts in Bromley stops on Slades Drive where you can access the public footpath opposite the bus stop and is around a ten minute walk to the ground. This bus also stops at New Eltham Station for your return journey.
TAXIS – – ALL DAY CARS – NEW ELTHAM – 020 8850 0032
Nearest Hotel: Premier Inn London Eltham
738 Sidcup Road, Eltham, London
SE9 3NS
Sat Nav Directions:SE9 3TJ
Directions:
From South Circular Road, take A20 Sidcup Bypass until you reach Fiveways, where Sidcup Road meets Green Lane Premier Inn Eltham is situated on the corner and the entrance to the car park is on Green Lane.
https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-eltham.html
The Car Park is free for supporters and there should be space between 700-800 cars on site. Please note bays in front of the main entrance are reserved for club officials.
Close to New Eltham Station are the Beehive pub plus the Pope Street Bar & Kitchen and the Nest offers hot drinks/alcoholic drinks and live music. There are also places to eat and a wide range of takeaway outlets as well as Fish & Chip and a Pie & Mash shop. Alternatively if you travel from Sidcup there are a wide range of pubs to choose from.
