FA Trophy Special: Defender Lee makes his comeback from horrific leg injury

DEFENDER Matt Lee makes an emotional return to the Cray Wanderers side for today’s FA Carlsberg Trophy first qualifying round tie at Tilbury, writes Stephen McCartney.

Lee broke his leg away to Dover Athletic the season before last, but replaces the injured Mark Willy for their trip to Chadfields.

“Nobody’s missing today apart from Mark Willy, who picked up a knock Tuesday,” said assistant manager Joe Francis, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk this morning.

“We’re welcoming Matt Lee back in the side, which is a new signing for us, quality player.

“It will be a milestone for Matt after his horrific injury. He broke his leg eighteen months ago, a horrendous injury, the worst break I’ve ever seen.

“He’s dying for a game, he’s chomping. He’s a defender, who can play anywhere, across the midfield, a great footballer.”

Manager Ian Jenkins and Francis are demanding a response from their players, following their disappointing 2-1 defeat at Burgess Hill Town in midweek.

Burgess Hill went 2-0 up, immediately after Colin Luckett’s 50^th minute penalty was saved, as the Sussex side broke away and beat goalkeeper Glen Knight at the other end.

“We definitely deserved something from the game,” said Francis. “Colin missed the penalty at 1-0. We would have gone on and won the game had we scored the penalty.

“We finished strong, it’s just disappointing. Eight game unbeaten run, we’ll go on another one.

“We always see a reaction from the boys and they want to show the right attitude. We had a great night’s training on Thursday.

“Just in the last couple of games we need to be a lot more positive in the last third and trust our ability - take a few risks in the last third.”

Francis is looking forward to today’s FA Trophy tie, against a Tilbury side that are 12^th in Ryman One North.

He said: “It’s a sort of departure from the league and a competition we all value a lot, because it’s a competition where you can somewhere. You can actually do something.

“We had them watched. The chairman went to watch them last week and he said they really like to play football. We’re looking forward to a decent game where both teams like to pass.”

Visit Cray Wanderers website:  www.craywands.co.uk

Tilbury v Cray Wanderers
FA Carlsberg Trophy First Qualifying Round
Saturday 18^th October 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Chadfields, St Chads Road, Tilbury, Essex RM18 8NL