Harlow Town 3-0 Cray Wanderers - Harlow sensed, they sniffed the weakness and they went for the kill, admits Cray Wanderers boss Tony Russell

Harlow Town 3 – 0 Cray Wanderers
Location	The Harlow Arena, Elizabeth Way, Harlow, Essex CM19 5BE
Kickoff	27/04/2016 19:45

HARLOW TOWN  3-0  CRAY WANDERERS
Ryman League Division One North Play-Off Semi-Final
Wednesday 27^th April 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from The Harlow Arena

CRAY WANDERERS manager Tony Russell admits to making a costly tactical error that cost his side a place in the Ryman League Division One North Play-Off Final on Sunday.

 

All-square at half-time, left-back Grant Basey complained to having no energy left in his legs inside the dressing room after completing the London Marathon on Sunday with a time of four hours and 56 minutes – which ultimately shattered Cray Wanderers promotion bid.

Russell decided to move central midfielder Sean Roberts in at left-back and a clinical Harlow Town punished Cray Wanderers with three goals in a devastating thirteen minutes.

Junior Dadson fired in his 28^th goal of the season to send the vocal Harlow Town fans in the crowd of 832 wild, before Alex Read converted his 37^th goal of the season from the penalty spot.  Striker Piers Wixon completed the scoring in the 62^nd minute, making it a painful night out in Essex for Cray Wanderers’ loyal small band of supporters.

Danny Chapman’s side booked a home Play-Off Final against AFC Hornchurch on Sunday after AFC Hornchurch won 2-0 at Thurrock, courtesy of two first half goals from George Purcell and Junior Luke.

They will look to join champions AFC Sudbury (105 points from 46) games in the Ryman Premier League next season. 

Thurrock finished second on 96 points, the same number of points as Harlow Town, while Cray Wanderers finished in fourth on 90, followed by AFC Hornchurch on 86.

“I don’t think we played particularly great the whole game but I don’t think they did.  I think it was quite an even game,” said Russell during the on-the-pitch post-match inquest following his side’s post-match huddle.

“Grant Basey’s done a marathon Sunday. He’s come back, he’s saying his legs have gone at half-time so I’ve had to make the change.  We’ve had a mad 13 minutes. All three goals have come from the left-back position. We put Sean Roberts there, the guy’s skipped past him all three times and that’s not a dig at Sean, Sean aint a left-back!

“When you have tight games in big games and make your change and Grant’s a very good left-back as well, we had a mad 13 minutes. From that point on after that 13 minutes it was all us again.

“We just had a mad 13 minutes and two carbon copy goals, exactly the same, skipped past, pulled it back and tapped it in, skipped past, pulled it back, dived in penalty and that was it!

“I said to Bluey (Nick Blue), did you have a save to make all game? He said no.

“Brems (Leigh Bremner) had a point blank volley which he should do better and the goalie’s made a world-class save from Michael Frieter. 

“In a tight game we’ve had the better chances.  We’ve had a mad 13 minutes, we didn’t clear our heads, that’s it!”

Cray Wanderers created the first opening of the night inside 140 seconds when central defender Jay Leader played the ball out from the back on a 60-yard run before playing the ball out to Leigh Bremner on the left.  The wide striker cut inside and his right-footed curling shot bounced past the far post from 25-yards.

Leader played a sloppy wayward pass across the pitch which was intercepted by Dadson, who stroked his right-footed drive straight into Nick Blue’s hands from 25-yards.

“I thought it was straight at him though,” added Russell.

“He’s hit it straight at Bluey, although it’s classed as a save, it’s not what I call a save. Me and you can go in goal and save that one. It was straight at him!

“We looked really nervy. We started the first 15-20 minute and I thought we were really nervy. I thought we were edgy passing the ball from the players I thought I could bank on. I don’t think it would make much effect on them, it did.”

Dadson was released down the left and his attempted cut-back was cut out by Blue, diving low to his left at his near post as Harlow Town were very quick down the wings.

A kick from Blue dropped at Adetayo Osifuwa and Cray’s right-back took the ball forward some 50-yards before playing the ball to Bremner, who cut in for a second time, this time drilling his right-footed shot over the crossbar from 25-yards inside the opening 11 minutes.

“Brems had a couple when he cut inside and got into good shooting positions but blazed them over,” said Russell.

“We had more shots in the first half. I thought they were doing a lot of long throws (from Ibrahima Sonko) in our box and I thought we dealt with them quite fine.

“The only time they looked like they were opening us up was when we were a bit sloppy with the ball and they were breaking, but from open play.”

Harlow Town weathered Cray Wanderers’ spell of possession and started to crank up their urgency levels.

Striker Read went on a 30-yard run and played the ball out to right-winger Jared Small, but once again Blue responded and cut out the low cross low to his right.

But Cray Wanderers squandered an excellent chance to silence the home crowd with the best chance of the first half at the halfway point.

Bremner was now hugging the right touch-line and he clipped a lovely ball through the middle to put James Duckworth through on goal.

Harlow’s last-defender Fabion Simms slipped on the artificial pitch and ended up on his backside as Duckworth charged towards the Harlow penalty area.

The striker skipped past the advancing keeper David Hughes but he lacked composure inside the box and took the ball towards the right by-line and lashed his shot high into the side netting from a very tight angle.

It was a chance that Duckworth had to take.

Russell said: “We’ve had a glorious chance in that first half. Listen, we worked in training about getting in those situations. You’ve got to do better, he knows that.

“In big games you’re not going to get loads and loads of chances. It’s not like us in a normal game where we just rip teams open and we moan about we’ve missed so many.

“You go 1-0 up and you open up scars. That’s what we spoke about before half time. They’ve lost two play-off games, this is the third one and you score one and you go 1-0 up the crowd get on their back. You’ve opened up scars. It’s so important we took that.

“You get these moments. We work on things to get people into positions and they’ve got to have the quality to deliver that and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Russell decided to swap his wingers by the time another opening came his side’s way.

Roberts passed to the quiet central midfielder Karl Dent, who swept the ball out to Aryan Tajbakhsh, who was now on the left, and just like Bremner earlier, he too cut inside from the left but this time drilled his right-footed shot over the crossbar from 35-yards.

With Cray Wanderers sitting deep, chances were at a premium during the first half with Harlow being gifted the last chance of the half in the 44^th minute.

Lea Dawson attempted to play a diagonal pass to Bremner, who showed no desire to meet the ball out on the right flank, allowing Harlow left-back Layne Eadie to intercept, charge forward some 60-yards before drilling his left-footed angled drive past the near post from 20-yards.

Russell made a double substitution at the break with Basey and Tajbakhsh coming off, being replaced by Michael Frieter and Dean Carpenter.

But it was the decision to put Roberts at left-back that proved to be the downfall as all three of Harlow’s goals came down his side of the pitch.

Now, should a player that is paid to play football in the Ryman League be allowed to run 26.2 miles three days before the club’s biggest game of the season?

“Grant Basey’s mum passed away last year so it’s very important for him to do that but I’m angry, I am angry about it,” said Russell.

“I thought about it. I spoke about it this morning, he told me his legs were fine. It’s killed us. The whole season has gone down to that decision. 

“Although we wasn’t great, we were more than good enough to win this game. I thought we had the better chances in the game. I don’t think we played particularly well. I don’t think they did. I thought both teams were very nervy, no real flow to the game but we worked on a game plan.”

Russell added: “We’re 52 games in and it’s come down to that. We were all in the ground, we understood. We know if Basey was fit and well and he was on, they ain’t scoring!”

When asked what he said to his players during the interval, Russell said: “I said to the boys at half-time exactly what we spoke about. I didn’t think they had anything that was worrying us.  I just felt we had to be a little bit better, more composed on the ball and braver.

“I could hear them (my players’) all saying ‘we’re not even playing well boys, let’s get going!’

“I was quite confident once we got playing there was only going to be one winner and then Basey said to me ‘my legs have gone, my legs have gone, I’ve got no energy now!”

Firstly, it could have been a different story had Leader’s header crashed into the back of the net instead of going over after Frieter floated in a free-kick from the right.

It started to go quickly downhill for Cray Wanderers.

Harlow Town broke the deadlock with three minutes and four seconds on the second half watch.

Frieter nor Roberts could stop Small running down the right, cut into the penalty area to reach the by-line before cutting the ball back for Dadson to place his first time left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from eight-yards.

“That was the same guy (Small) that played in the first half! Nothing! He never got past Basey, who was showing him wide when he did get past him, so he was running out of areas.

“Frieter got close as well. He (Small) skipped in between two of them.

“I was so reluctant to even moan about Sean because he was a reluctant left-back. He’s just left-footed. I could’ve put Dean Carpenter there but I just thought Sean had a little bit more pace.  I thought the boy (Small) was quite quick.

“But in hindsight it wasn’t the best call. Listen, losing someone’s mum it means the world to Base running that Marathon, it meant the world to him so who am I to tell him?!”

Cray Wanderers, who were poor in the middle of the park, gifted Harlow Town their second goal from the penalty spot, timed at seven minutes and two seconds.

Referee Tim Donnellan pointed to the spot when Dawson was adjudged to have fouled Read inside the box.

Read stepped up to drill his right-footed penalty into the bottom left hand corner, leaving the Kent side with a mountain to climb.

“They came down the left again, overload. He (Dawson) said it wasn’t a penalty but I couldn’t see to be honest. It looked a penalty to me.  I had my back to it.

“You’re just sitting there and you could just see it unfolding, your whole season is unfolding in 13 minutes. It’s a bit heartbreaking!”

Harlow Town keeper Hughes pulled off a brilliant save to deny Cray Wanderers a crumb of comfort.

Frieter’s right-footed free-kick from 30-yards was destined to scream into the top right-hand corner, only for Hughes to move high over his left shoulder to palm the ball around the top of his post.

Russell said: “I thought it was in, if I’m honest. I thought it was a great save. It was a great free-kick.

“It just wasn’t our night tonight. It was one of those ones where we could be out there all night and not going to score.

“I actually thought if we got one, they’ll fold. I thought that they’re quite vulnerable even at 2-0, if we had gone 2-1 I would’ve fancied us. We just had to get that because on the bench they’re edgy. It’s the play-offs for them. You could see it. There’s some scars there. We just needed to get a goal.”
 

Cray Wanderers were needing a miracle when Harlow Town wrapped up their scoring with the clock showing 16 minutes and 9 seconds.

Ibrahima Sonko picked out Small with a delightful pass and Roberts once again allowed him to cut into the box to reach the by-line to cut the ball back for Wixon to drill his firs time left-footed drive into the middle left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Russell said: “It was a carbon copy of the first one, wasn’t it? He’s skipped past, got to the by-line, pulled it back, tap in.  You’ve got to defend!

“I said when we came here Harlow are quite a simple team in terms of the way they play. They’ve got pace out wide, they want to get it in front of you and they score lots of goals like that.

“That’s why I like Basey and Adetayo (Osifuwa) because they’ve very good on one-on-one’s. They’re not going to get past them.

“To be fair to Harlow, they sensed, they sniffed the weakness and they went for the kill.”

Poor control from Duckworth inside the D allowed Hughes to pick up the ball as it ran through to him at the halfway point of the second half.

A clever Crossfield pass from Read was latched onto by Eadie, who under pressure from Osifuwa, lashed his shot over the top of the near post from a tight angle.

Former Gillingham midfielder Frieter charged down the right flank and without any support keeping up with him his speculative right-footed chip sailed over the crossbar from 35-yards.

With Harlow Town’s vocal support celebrating their victory throughout the second half by reminding their opponents of the score, Bremner hit a speculative right-footed shot well wide from 35-yards.

But Bremner summed up Cray Wanderers’ poor night when he missed a great chance at the end.

Roberts was given time and space to float in a cross from the left for an unmarked Bremner to hit his volley past the right-hand post from ten-yards out.

“The volley from ten-yards out with the whole goal to aim at.  You’ve got to do better. That’s right at the end. We’re 3-0 down. It wouldn’t have made too much difference,” said Russell.

“It just shows you we’ve created some really good chances in a match that we probably come away a little bit disappointed that we’ve not imposed ourselves like we’d like to but we’ve created the better chances.”

Russell is keen to ensure his side do not have to go through a painful night like this again next season.

He said: “We’re just a fantastic football club, I can’t wait to give them success,” said Russell, as his first season in charge of the club ended in despair.

“I just said to the players (in the post-match huddle), last year Sudbury lost in the play-off semi-final and kept their nucleus of their squad, added a couple and won the league.  The year before that Needham Market lost in the semi-final to Witham kept the nucleus of their squad and went on and won it.

“If we need templates, it’s there. We’ve had a lot of injuries. We know we’re a good side. We’ve got to retain the boys we’ve got, add one or two to it and then come back a lot stronger.

“This has upset me and that will fill me in the summer now. I’m going to come back and I want to put this right. I want to deliver things for this football club because it means a lot to me. It feels like my football club.

“I can see myself, honestly, touch wood, being here a long time. There’s absolutely no reason why they want to go anywhere. When I was up VCD or maybe Erith Town, you’re always looking and one day if I want to really push on I have to leave but here I don’t think that.”

But one man Russell will have to replace is assistant manager Ray Powell, who revealed his retirement from the game on Twitter afterwards.

“Twenty-one years’ in non-league football has now come to an end. Thank you to everyone who have been a big part of it.”

Harlow Town: David Hughes, Craig Pope, Layne Eadie (Ryan Melaugh 75), Sam West, Ibrahima Sonko, Fabion Simms, Jared Small, Syrus Gordon, Alex Read (Leon Antoine 86), Piers Wixon (Mario Noto 82), Junior Dadson.
Subs: Joe Benjamin, Jack Ryan

Goals: Junior Dadson 49, Alex Read 53 (penalty), Piers Wixon 62

Cray Wanderers: Nick Blue, Adetayo Osifuwa, Grant Basey (Dean Carpenter 46), Jay Leader, Ben Payne, Lea Dawson, Sean Roberts, Karl Dent (Jamie Mascoll 64), Leigh Bremner, James Duckworth, Aryan Tajbakhsh (Michael Frieter 46).
Subs: Alex Hyde, Sam Faulkner

Booked: Ben Payne 42, Aryan Tajbakhsh 45

Attendance: 832
Referee: Mr Tim Donnellan (Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire)
Assistants: Mr Corey Snuggs & Mr Jack Bloxham
Fourth Official: Mr Thomas Hancock