Kingstonian hand the initiative over to Cray Wanderers

UNDER PRESSURE Kingstonian have blown one of their lifelines today - as Cray Wanderers stretched their lead at the top of the Ryman League Division One South table to SIX POINTS following a comfortable 3-1 win at Kent rivals Folkestone Invicta, writes Stephen McCartney.

A fourth minute header from Martin Dunne proved enough for struggling Corinthian-Casuals to seal a SHOCK 1-0 win at Kingsmeadow today, whilst down at Cheriton Road, Cray Wanderers did the business as goals from Jamie Wood, his first goal of the season, Scott Kinch and Steve Aris, made it six wins out of six.

The Hayes Lane outfit are now favourites for the title, having bagged 63 points from 33 games, with Kingstonian (57/30), Worthing (57/32), Metropolitan Police (57/33) and Sittingbourne (56/31) occupying the play-off places.

Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson strengthened his squad this week with the returning winger Dean Lodge (Northwich Victoria), and signing journeyman forward Omari Coleman (Hayes & Yeading), but no-one would have predicted the Surrey giants losing on home soil against perennial strugglers Corinthian-Casuals.

The simple fact is Cray Wanderers hold the advantage in the eight-club race for the title and assistant manager, Joe Francis, speaking to BBC Radio Kent afterwards, knows his side must maintain their current excellent standards to get over the line as champions.

“We’re very, very pleased with the result,” he said. “It’s always a difficult place to come and we’re full of confidence at the moment.

“We’ve stopped leaking goals, we look very strong defensively and everybody who knows Cray, for the last six years, is that we like to play football.

“We’ve got it right at one end and we’ve managed to notch now so it’s very pleasing at the moment.”

Both Cray and Kingstonian are in London Senior Cup action on Tuesday night, but clinching the title is vital.

“There’s nine games left, there’s nine cup finals and we’ve been saying for the last five or six weeks ‘boys, every single game counts’ and fortunately, at the moment, we seem to be right in the zone,” admitted Francis.

“I just think collectively the team is realising there’s an opportunity this season. The league is so tight, everyone has to play everybody else, teams are going to be nicking points of each other and if we can go on a run and we’re well capable of doing that, we did that last year and missed out narrowly at the end of last season.

“The boys have just turned it around and with each result, you start to gather confidence and we’re looking forward and we just can’t wait for the next game.”

Francis admitted the title race will go right down to the wire.

He said: “They (Kingstonian) lost 1-0 and I know from speaking to people all round the league that Kingstonian have had a rocky time at home, but they’ve got good quality and they’ve got three games in hand over us.

“Obviously, they still think they can win it. It’s going to be an exciting end to the season.”

In a bid to win it, K’s boss Dowson has re-signed talented midfielder Lodge, 21, from Northwich Victoria, and much-travelled flop Coleman, 28, arrives from Hayes & Yeading.

Dowson, speaking to www.kingstonian.net was pleased with his transfer dealings in the build up to their embarrassing home defeat.

“I’m obviously absolutely delighted to get Lodgey back,” he said. “We were unlucky to lose him in the first place and I’ve been on the phone to him every other day since.

“I know his name has constantly been on everyone’s lips and he loves the club so it’s a massive boost as we get into the most important part of the season.”

The K’s boss added, “I’ve also managed to get Omari Coleman who really shook us up when playing for Croydon Athletic earlier in the season.

“He brings a lot of strength and character and will be an excellent signing.”

Personaly, I'd rather have the points in the bag, than games in hand.

For Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley, he knows his young side are safe in thirteenth place in the table, but admitted he lost to a very good side.

Speaking to BBC Radio Kent, Cugley reflected on Invicta’s home defeat, and admitted it was “men against boys."

He said: “I was very impressed with Cray - the best side we’ve played for a long time this year.  They kept the ball very well, so much experience.

“We had a few players out their depth. “We had a lot of teenagers out there, they gave it their best, but Cray are a good side.”

Cugley, who takes his side to third-bottom side Chipstead on Tuesday night, says his youngsters will learn from their experience of being thrown in at the deep end, during the club’s publicised financial crisis, and that they can only improve ahead of next season.

“To be fair to the young lads, they’ve got better and better,” he said. “Even today they learnt a lot from it. The goals that we conceded were a bit disappointing.

“When we start next season, they’ll be experienced, getting over 20-30 games under their belts.

“We had a couple of seventeen-year-olds out there today and they did alright. We’ve got to keep plugging away, keep learning and hopefully everything goes alright off-the-field and then we can start rebuilding and off we go again.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s trip to play Chipstead, Cugley, whose side are thirteen points clear of relegation, added, “To be fair to the younger lads, they’ve got great attitude, we’ve got a good team spirit in the small squad that we’ve got and we’ll keep plugging away.

“We go to Chipstead on Tuesday and I know they’ll give everything they can for the club again.”

Quotes courtesy of BBC Radio Kent - www.bbc.co.uk/kent

Kingstonian quotes courtesy of www.kingstonian.net

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

Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk