Cray Wanderers are keen to distance ourselves from third place as a priority and keep the automatic spot into January, says assistant Joe Vines

CRAY WANDERERS assistant manager Joe Vines says he is keen for his side to consolidate within the Bostik South promotion places.

The Wands remain in second-place in the table with 51 points in the bag from 24 games, three points adrift of leaders Lewes but with a game in hand.

They are a couple of points clear of Surrey trio Corinthian-Casuals, Walton Casuals and Carshalton Athletic, while Greenwich Borough follow in sixth-place on 48 points.

Cray Wanderers demolished basement side Shoreham 7-0 at Hayes Lane in their last outing.

“Boxing Day was a great way for us to dust off the Christmas cobwebs,” said Vines, who is Tony Russell’s number two and is in his first managerial role.

“We played some great stuff, scored some wonderful goals and probably left two or three out there truth be told. It was a game we expected to win but we did a really professional job and were ruthless.”

Faversham Town – in eighteenth-place in the table with 29 points from 26 games – are the visitors to Hayes Lane on Saturday.

Since beating Thamesmead Town 3-2 on 6 December, Faversham have drawn against Greenwich Borough (2-2) and Shoreham (1-1), before losing to Walton Casuals (0-1) and Herne Bay (1-3).

“Saturday’s game against Faversham is a different proposition. We all agree that Ray Turner is a proper football man, a class act and he really made us think in the last game tactically,” said Vines.

“I believe we are a slightly different animal at home so we should be more on the front foot and it should be a game worth paying to watch.

“We are keen to distance ourselves from third place as a priority and keep the automatic spot into January if possible. That may or may not go to plan, so we need to be prepared for every outcome.

“We had a target and we prepared meticulously to reach that goal and we have reached several milestones along the way but as yet we have achieved nothing!”

Cray Wanderers get the New Year off with a cracking game in prospect – a trip to their local rivals and promotion rivals Greenwich Borough (15:00 kick-off).

Vines said: “New Years Day offers us another big test. Greenwich Borough are a very good side, Gary Alexander is someone that I know well.

“Gary seems to have a season ticket for Cray as well as his managerial duties at Greenwich as I've seen so much of him over the last few months!

“They have excellent players, so do we. They are extremely professional in the way they go about their business, so are we. They are often slandered by talk of a huge budget, so are we. There are many similarities between the two sides but we feel that we know enough about them to go to Badgers and kick off 2018 in the right way.”

Visit Cray Wanderers website: www.cray-wanderers.com

Cray Wanderers  v  Faversham Town
Bostik South Division
Saturday 30 December 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF