Cray Wanderers vs Dartford – Isthmian Premier – Monday 21st April, 3 pm
Cray Wanderers bring the curtain down on a momentous first season at Flamingo Park in one of the games of the day in the Isthmian Premier with league leaders Dartford the visitors. Kick off 3 pm.
The scene is set on Easter Monday for a day of drama at the top of the league with not only Dartford but Billericay Town and Horsham, two points behind the Darts all away from home and a slip up for one or two would leave the last day of the season on Saturday very interesting. Dartford, on 83 points could be promoted as Champions with a win against the Wands coupled with either draws or defeats for Billiercay and Horsham who visit Canvey Island and Bognor Regis Town respectively.
The Wands in tenth place on 60 points come into the game on the back of the biggest away defeat of the season, 0-3 at Horsham on Friday. However, a sense of perspective is perhaps needed as the game was on a knife edge going into the last fifteen minutes and two goals came when Cray were reduced in numbers following red cards for Eze Ebouzeme and Tom Bonner although both should be available for the Dartford match.
With one game at Lewes to follow on Saturday, Tim O’Shea will be able to finish the season looking ahead to next season with his appointment confirmed for the 2025-26 season.
Cray’s performances against the top 5 sides have been very good and took four points off Billericay and the win there on 5th April is beginning to look a key result in deciding the championship.
The Wands could also take positives from the performance at Princes Park on Boxing Day where Cray led at half time through Josh Williams strike and could have scored more before two cracking goals from the Darts’ Ollie Box won the game 2-1 for Dartford.
The last league game between the sides at Cray was on 2nd January 2010 when Dartford were 2-1 winners at Hayes Lane in a season when Dartford were crowned champions.
Dartford after a very sticky spell in September and October when they found themselves below mid-table have been on an incredible run losing just two out of the last 28 league games following a 2-1 win vs Cheshunt on 9th November and are unbeaten in six games.
On Good Friday Dartford ended Dover Athletic’s slim title hopes with a 3-1 win at Princes Park with goals from Stephen Carruthers, Denzelle Olopade in the first half and Josh Hill just after half time.
Away from home Addy Pennock’s side have won at Cray Valley PM (2-1), Carshalton Athletic (1-0), Hastings United (3-0), Horsham (3-1), Folkestone Invicta (1-0), Canvey Island (1-0), Chatham Town (2-0), Wingate & Finchley (2-1), Bowers & Pitsea (3-1), Hendon (3-2), Bognor Regis Town (2-0), Dulwich Hamlet (3-0) and Whitehawk (1-0). They drew at Potters Bar Town (1-1), Hashtag United (3-3) and Chichester City (2-2) with defeats at Dover Athletic (1-5), Billericay Town (0-4), Cheshunt (0-3) and Lewes (1-3). At home Dartford beat Canvey Island (2-0), Chatham Town (3-1), Cheshunt (2-1), Lewes (2-0), Bognor Regis Town (4-0), Cray Wanderers (2-1), Whitehawk (4-1), Billericay Town (4-0), Hashtag United (2-0), Horsham (2-1), Hastings United (2-0) and Dover Athletic (3-1). Dartford drew with Hendon, Cray Valley PM, Dulwich Hamlet, Chichester City and Folkestone Invicta and were beaten by Potters Bar Town, Bowers & Pitsea and Wingate & Finchley. Olly Box is the top scorer with 14 goals.
Dartford finish the season at home to Carshalton Athletic on Saturday while Billericay Town host Cheshunt and Horsham play Hashtag United.
Please note that it is expected to be the biggest crowd of the season so will be busy. Supporters are advised to arrive early with the gates opening at 12 pm. Tickets are available, £12 adults, £6 concessions, U16-U13s on the gate but is suggested to buy online at www.cray-wanderers.com/tickets/
There is a printed programme £3, merchandise, golden goal tickets, Cray Wanderers 100 Club Draw, Indian Street Food and BBQ food vans available, hot food, drink and bars. There will be live music from rock n roll duo Sonny & The Harp from 5.30 pm, Cray Wanderers end of season awards from around 6.30 during the music interval and Tottenham v Nottingham Forest on TV from 8.00 so it will be a long day to call time on a season for the history books.
THE PROGRAMME/NOTES – PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS OF TIM O’SHEA
Cray Wanderers bring the curtain down on an historic first season at Flamingo Park this afternoon as we welcome near neighbours Dartford in what could be a match to decide the Isthmian Premier League Champions. Here manager Tim O’Shea looks back on the entertaining 4-1 win vs Wingate & Finchley on 12th April and Good Friday’s game at Horsham plus the thoughts for today.
Hello Tim. Welcome to our final manager notes of this historic season. Before we look ahead to today let’s look back to the 4-1 win vs Wingate & Finchley on 12th April. This was a very entertaining game with some good goals and quality play and against a side that has won at four of the top five this season.
It was a good game, Ahmet Rifat’s team plays a brand of football that gets good results, a bit unpredictable and hard to play up against if you give them space. We probably gave them too much space first half and they are match for anybody and they proved that especially in the first half.
They started the game like a house on fire but picked up an early injury to Zack Newton and had to go off. Did that give a chance to regroup and get a second wind?
It was, Zack is quite an integral part of what they do and we when we see him go down you do as opposition management say you wouldn’t mind if he had to hobble off. It gave us a chance to get some messages out to the boys. We started the game a bit slow and I don’t know if that was a bit of a hangover from the win at Billericay which as I said to you before are great fixtures to play in and in front of a big crowd. This was one where apart from trying to keep some form going into the back end of the season it did feel a bit like an end of season game. We weren’t at it for the first ten-fifteen minutes and I felt that offensively both teams did well but defensively we both showed our vulnerabilities and weren’t working as hard as we should out of possession.
We took the lead didn’t we with a great volley from Nyren Clunis, his twelfth of the season and he is a player that gets better and better as the season goes on.
He definitely defies his age bless him and I often have banter with him and have a good relationship. When he’s fit and firing on all cylinders he is almost like an 18 year old but I did say to him after was it a one touch finish or did it roll down his leg but he hit it well but if you offered him another ten balls he wouldn’t do it again but we were pleased to see it go in I must admit.
They got back into it but you must have seen many games like this when we score just before half time through Soul’s Andy Gray like header and then Josh makes it three early in the second half. So from a tight game at 1-1 suddenly in the blink of an eye it was 3-1.
Yes, we did indeed. For Soul’s goal it was debatable whether it was a foul on the keeper. Back in my day that was a good old fashioned centre-forward challenge. If some reason the keeper comes for the ball with his eyes closed then that is what tends to happen but fair play to Soul who was very brave. He deserved his goal and then for Josh’s from Eze’s pass inside the full back and centre half and Josh does what Josh does and he finished it off very well.n
From there the boys tended to relax, Wingate & Finchley dropped 20% we went up 20% and for our second half performance you couldn’t begrudge us going on to win handsomely which we did.
Finally for Soul’s second goal that was his ninth in eight starts for our no 9 and despite coming back off injury his confidence looks to be sky high.
Yes, that is nine in eight and he doesn’t stop going on about it. He is a goal-scorer and some people do have that knack and he is that centre-forward. I watched Nyren’s goal back again over the weekend and if you have a little look at it Soul was already on the move for any rebounds and that is a sure sign of any good centre-forward. He is no reacting, he is more pro-acting and on the move. His second goal on the day as he said afterwards he don’t get too many of those but he has it in his locker. He has a good leap on him, a tidy finisher and he works hard. I’m sure he has a bright future in the game.
Let’s look back to Good Friday’s trip to Horsham which ended in a 0-3 defeat against the title contenders. Personally, I don’t think the final score tells the full story as with quarter of an hour to go the game was still on a knife edge and the final two goals both came after we were reduced in numbers.
Listen for all the effort the boys put in I didn’t think they deserved the 3-0 defeat. Horsham are a very good side there is no doubt about it, they move the ball well. We forced their keeper to play it long onto the half way line which was working. Things were going okay and I thought we created as many chances as they did before their first goal. We couldn’t do much about the first goal as it took a wicked deflection and Shaun had no chance there. That set us back a tiny bit but I thought we just carried on. We made a few unforced errors which caused us some problems but at half time we were pleased and were very much in it but towards the end of the game they got on top,
Let’s now look ahead to today and perhaps the biggest game of the whole season to end with. Dartford could possibly win the title here today and it is great isn’t it to have a three horse race for the title going into the final couple of games. We were a bit unlucky I felt not to get anything down at Dartford on Boxing Day and only beaten on a couple of moments of great quality in the second half. One defeat in sixteen at home surely we can go into this game with confidence.
Yes we can and if you look at the second half of the season form guide and we have been in and around the top 10 and often in the top 6 so there is a real feeling in the changing room now we have found consistency that we are on our day capable of mixing it with the top five sides irrespective of budgets. The side we have assembled have belief and when we went to Dartford and when it was 1-0 to us, Josh went through and had a chance to make it two but fluffed his lines on the day. I refer back to the Dover game I thought we should have got something out of that and these are the teams who having to tussle with going up as Champions and who goes up in the playoffs. In that respect we have nothing to fear.
For Dartford they still have it all to do so the pressure will all be on them and our only pressure will be putting in a performance we are happy with. If we do then I’m sure Dartford are going to know they are in a game.
Finally Tim as this is our last game of what has been a momentous and often noisy season in regards to the various records broken in the early stages do you have any words for the supporters before the summer. Our fan base has grown as the season has gone along.
The Cray Massive have been living up to their name and the fan base is growing which is fantastic as is the noise. I’d like to think gradually over the season we have given them something to shout about which is good. The support has been absolutely magnificent and I have enjoyed so many of the away games as well as the home. Hopefully we have a good end to the season and during the close season we have to be out there trying to drum up more interest other than come down and watch the team on your doorstep and try to enjoy it. It has been a roller-coaster of a season really and from the Director’s point of view we didn’t really know what was going to happen and who was going to come through the door so still finding our feet and that is probably why the remit was to first and foremost remain in this league. That is something that me and Smudge would want to do anyway but would always look to get as much out of the team as possible.
We can look back and be pleased all round and the Cray supporters have been magnificent even when performances haven’t been so good or at a decent standard there are never any moans and just encouragement. The players feed off of that and certainly the management and I am looking forward to the end of the season and finishing strong.
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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 – 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.
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ALL AT CRAY WANDERERS WISH ALL OUR SUPPORTERS & SUPPORTERS CLUB, OFFICIALS, MANAGEMENT, PLAYERS, COMMITTEE, SPONSORS, YOUTH TEAM MANAGERS & PLAYERS, WOMEN’S TEAM & GIRLS TEAMS, OUR MEDIA TEAM, 100 CLUB MEMBERS A HAPPY EASTER HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL & FAMILY & FRIENDS.
