Cray Wanderers 0-2 Cray Valley (Paper Mills) - It's my job to try to put a squad out as good as I can to keep this club in this division, says Cray Wanderers manager Neil Smith

Cray Wanderers 0 – 2 Cray Valley (Paper Mills)
Location	Flamingo Park, Sidcup-by-pass, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HL
Kickoff	13/08/2024 19:45

CRAY WANDERERS  0-2  CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 13 August 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Flamingo Park

CRAY WANDERERS manager Neil Smith says it was a great honour to be at the helm for the club’s maiden Isthmian League Premier Division game at their brand new £4m, 2,525 capacity Flamingo Park Stadium in Chislehurst tonight.

The Wands spent 26 years playing five miles away at Hayes Lane in Bromley and a crowd of 840 saw their neighbours Cray Valley (Paper Mills) claim the local bragging rights with a deserved victory on match day two of the new season.

Cray Valley are in eighth-place in the table tonight on three points, while Cray Wanderers are in thirteenth-place, also on three points.

The Millers last tasted an away league defeat under Tommy Osborne on 15 April 2023 when they lost 2-1 at Chatham Town, but Steve McKimm’s side went the whole of last season unbeaten on their league travels as they finished six points clear of Ramsgate to win the Isthmian League South East Division title with 95 points from 38 games, losing just the once.

Cray Wanderers finished in the bottom six in the eighth-tier having picked up 50 points from their 42 league games, finishing 11 points clear of relegation.

McKimm’s men scored twice in 105 seconds in the second half through right-winger Denzel Gayle and striker Freddie Parker, as the Millers bounced back from their 2-1 home defeat to relegated Dartford at the weekend.

“I’m only disappointed because you want to win games.  Disappointed with the result but what a great night for the likes of Gary (Hillman), Sam (Wright), who have been waiting a long time for this to happen,” said Smith, during the post-match press conference.

“Of course we wanted to put the cherry on the top, it wasn’t to be.  We had a great result on Saturday and a bad one today but that’s football.  We’ve got to put that to bed and move on.

“I thought they were the better side in the first half.  They worked harder for it.  They had a couple of chances.  We just never got our game going.  Everything that we did well on Saturday, it didn’t happen tonight.

“We scored two goals (against Hashtag) on Saturday, we had numerous chances and tonight we had a couple of one-on-ones but it was too little, too late, a bit huffy-puffy.  I felt they deserved to win tonight.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) came out of the traps with all guns blazing, creating their first chance after only 58 seconds.

Right-back Barney Williams floated in a cross into the penalty area, the ball was knocked down by Parker and his striker partner Hassan Ibrahiym flashed his right-footed half-volley just past the right-hand post.

Cray Wanderers’ first chance in their brand new stadium arrived with nine minutes and 35 seconds on the clock.

Right-wing-back Lateef Adaja played the ball inside to holding midfielder Frankie Raymond, who failed to keep his left-footed drive down from 25-yards.

Wideman Kenny Coker missed a glorious chance to go into the history books to become the first Cray Wanderers footballer to score an Isthmian League goal here – although Chloe Ashdown was the first to score a goal at this new stadium as Cray Wanderers’ Ladies side beat Oakwood 2-0 here back in February 2024.

Centre-half Quade Taylor played the ball along the artificial pitch to deep striker David Smith, who spun Millers’ left-back Tom Chambers, before releasing Kenny Coker and his right-footed angled drive from 15-yards, was kept out by the outstretched right leg of visiting goalkeeper Max Ovenden with 13:29 on the clock.

“All very bitty. It was a good start and we thought we started well. We just didn’t keep that momentum going,” admitted Smith, who was asked whether his players felt nerves on such a big occasion for the club.

“I don’t think it was nerves, no.  Some of these boys have played at big clubs. They (Cray Valley) just upped their game and we didn’t up ours.  That wasn’t about nerves tonight.

“It was a big occasion for the club. I did say before the game, ‘park that’, it’s not about the occasion. It’s about the game, it’s about winning three points.”

Cray Valley’s holding midfielder Danny Waldren played a first-time diagonal out to Andre Coker on the right and he cut inside before playing the ball back to Waldren, who cracked a first-time right-footed drive deflecting over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Cray Wanderers goalkeeper Shaun Rowley - who made his 100^th appearance for the club, saving a penalty in their 2-0 opening day win at Hashtag United at the weekend - was untroubled when he gathered a towering header from the resilient centre-half Cem Tumkaya, after Williams floated in a free-kick into the box from the half-way line.

The Millers continued to boss proceedings and a decent chance to take the lead arrived in the 21^st minute.

Williams (who linked up well inside the home side’s half), recycled the ball from within the right-channel, the ball was laid off by Andre Coker for Ibrahiym, who drilled a first-time left-footed angled drive from the edge of the box, as Adaja went to close him down instantly.

The Millers dominated the corner-count by nine to nil and Nyren Clunis was in the right place to ensure Waldren didn’t get on the scoresheet with 23:07 on the clock.

Andre Coker floated the ball in from the left towards a crowd of players and Waldren’s looping header was cleared off the line.

Smith said: “We knew they were dangerous from set-plays. They’ve got big boys, they spin round the back. They have a bus stop and they were looking for Danny Waldren every time and to be fair he caused us problems but nothing more than what I know about Danny, obviously having him at Bromley, having him at Welling when he was a young kid, having him at Croydon Athletic, so we knew all about him and I thought he done really well tonight.”

Smith used three central defenders and one of them, Tom Bonner, was forced off with an ankle injury and was replaced by Archie Johnson in the 27^th minute, who was later forced off with concussion inside the final seven minutes, as both Smith and McKimm used their full allocation of five substitutes.

“Losing Bons obviously didn’t help when you lose your skipper.  He won’t be fit for a few weeks, which was a major loss because I thought he did well on Saturday and he was doing well tonight,” said Smith.

“Archie came into a position which probably wasn’t his favoured position.

“I’ve only got a squad of 16-17 players. I’m going to have to lose two players for Saturday but that’s where we are as a club so we re-group on Thursday and we go again.

“Archie will have to go to the dentist and his teeth are going to have to be moved.  He got elbowed in the face but I don’t think there was any intension in there.

“Archie came off with concussion, so he’ll be out for the 10 days minimum.  Bons, I think may be a little while.”

When asked about playing with three centre-halves, Smith may be forced to revert to a back four at Hendon on Saturday.

“We’ve changed formation a little bit, will it work? I don’t know. We’ve got three centre-halves – I haven’t for the next game.

“On Saturday, it was brilliant, clean-sheet. We played against Tottenham, who are Premier League (youth) winners and it worked but when you lose someone like Bons, that’s when we’ve got to look at that.

“Do we only play it when we’ve got all three defenders? Do we play a different formation that suits the players that we’ve got out there at the moment?

“It’s something we’ve got to look at but we’ve practiced stuff, unfortunately because you play Saturday-Tuesday, you don’t have a chance to go over it again and it’s something we might have to look at.

“We’re still learning, we’re still learning about the boys and the players and who can play that position and that’s what it’s going to be all season again, new team, new players and we’ll learn along the way.”

Cray Valley produced a well-worked move (32:48) when Williams played the ball along the deck to a deep Parker, who played a first time reverse pass outside the box to release Gayle, who cut into the box and from a tight angle swept his left-footed shot against the base of the near-post.

“Gayle is a good player. We knew he was dangerous.  We felt we kept him quiet apart from that minute in the game – obviously the second half he came alive,” added Smith.

The away side continued to play at a high-tempo and central midfielder Matthew Vigor lacked composure inside the box when Ibrahiym’s right-wing corner fell to him in the middle and he lashed his right-footed shot over the crossbar.

Cray Wanderers created a goalscoring opportunity 23 seconds into stoppage time.

Adaja spun Andre Coker inside his own half before charging down the right before cutting inside and from a couple of yards outside the Millers penalty area, dragged his left-footed shot past the right upright.

“He came on his weaker foot and got a shot off. He just didn’t have the strength,” said Smith.

“He scored one in pre-season when he really caught it and it went in. We’ve got two 19-year-old full-backs in Lateef (Adaja) and Darion (Dowrich) and I think they’re only going to improve. I think they’re very good players. They’re going to get better and they’re an asset to our club at the moment.”

When asked about his thoughts at the interval, Smith said: “Just they’re winning more battles than we are. We can’t allow that. They just seemed a little bit hungrier than us.  Everything that we got told that we were good at on Saturday, winning second ball and being on the front foot, we just weren’t today but we’ll go again.”

The second half took a while to get going.  Andre Coker’s free-kick was met by Waldren, whose towering free header at the near-post was comfortably caught by Rowley.

Fifty-three seconds later, quiet Cray Wanderers striker David Smith threaded a through ball for left-wing-back Darion Dowrich, who lacked composure and lashed his first-time left-footed drive over Ovenden’s crossbar from 16-yards.

Cray Valley sealed the deal, by scoring two counter-attacking goals.

The Millers’ longest-serving player, Gayle, gave McKimm’s men a deserved lead, the goal coming with 12 minutes and 51 seconds on the second half clock.

Gayle slipped the ball along the deck to Parker on the half-way line and his reverse pass sent Gayle charging down the right and easily cutting inside Johnson (who played on the left of a three-man defence) before sweeping his left-footed shot past Rowley from six-yards.

“We were very vulnerable from breaks during pre-season and we worked on it the other day, go away from home to a very attacking team in Hashtag and we managed to keep a clean-sheet,” said Smith, who operates with a part-time squad.

“Unfortunately, you don’t get a chance to train before the next game.  Keeping a clean-sheet you then lose your captain and centre-half (Bonner).  You have to change it around a little bit and we looked a bit vulnerable when Bons went off.  No disrespect to Archie but Gayle then used his pace to put the burners on.”

Cray Valley doubled their lead with 14 minutes and 36 seconds on the clock, with another counter-attacking raid down the right as Johnson failed to shut the gate for a second time.

Gayle was released down the right and he reached the channel before whipping in a low cross towards the back post and Parker stabbed his shot into the bottom left-hand corner to score against an old club.

Smith said: “Again, it was a cross in the box. I think Shaun got his hand to it and it hits Parker and just goes in. I think it’s a rebound.

“They got down that left-hand side, they get a cross in and we were a bit unfortunate.  We’re trying to get a goal and unfortunately we got hit on the break again.”

It should have been three when Williams released Parker down the right before cutting in to the middle before dragging his left-footed shot past the foot of the right-post from 20-yards.

Smith was asked why Raymond was substituted in the 56^th minute for former Millwall attacking midfielder Arezki Hamouchene.

“I just thought we’ll try to get Arezki on the ball, little Arezki, he’s very, very good on the ball. We just wanted to get a little bit of pace in there and no disrespect to Frankie, he’s not going to get forward as much as Arezki would.

“He was released from Millwall, so another 18-year-old kid. I think he done alright when he came on. I think he should’ve scored the goal really when he went through. He just had an extra touch. He got sort of bundled out but I think if he gets it off earlier, it’s a good chance of a goal.”

Bonner, Raymond and emergency centre-half David Ijaha all took it in turns to wear the captain’s armband tonight.

Cray Wanderers missed a decent chance to pull a goal back halfway through the second half.

Smith dropped deep and played a through ball in behind Tumkaya to play in Hamouchene, who took too many touches inside the box and placed his left-footed shot trickling across Ovenden and past the foot of the far post.

Central midfielder Lyle Della-Verde came off the bench and cracked a right-footed drive from 30-yards, which was comfortably caught by Rowley and he later arrowed a left-footed free-kick over the six-man wall and over the top of the far post with a free-kick from inside the D after Ihaja was booked for a tackle on Parker.

Nine minutes and 16 seconds of stoppage time was played out but it was Cray Valley that won the first League meeting between these two neighbouring clubs.

“Listen, you’re not going to be able to win every game.  It’s football.  You know you’re going to lose at some stage. It was a shame it was our first game (here),” said Smith.

“That wasn’t a great performance for (our fans) but you can see the club moving in the right way and that’s the main thing. It is building foundation, little steps to try to build this club into a club where you’re going to get this sort of crowd every week.

“These (Cray Valley) are one of the favourites to be in and around the play-offs because of that momentum (of winning the league last season).  We know it’s going to be a tough league. We’ll come in on Thursday and I’ll see what bodies I’ve got and we’ll just move on from there.

“Hendon will be a tough game. Another club that’s kept most of their players that they had last season as well.

“We’ve got a big league ahead. It’s a very, very tough league and these (Cray Valley) are just one of the teams that’s going to be tough, no tougher than anybody else that’s in it.”

When asked about the club’s aspirations for the season ahead in their new surroundings, Smith replied: “Cray Valley winning wasn’t in the script. They did a job, they came here and they did their job. I’ve just said to the boys in there, history has been made. You can’t take away from the fact that that’s the first home game and it was a loss but we can still make the season a good season at home.

“You’re never going to win them all but we’d love to have won the first one but there’s another 40 games to go and our job is to do better in the league.

“A lot of people thought now you’ve got the pitch, that’s it.  You’ve got to go and get promotion but they’ve got to pay for it and it’s my job to try to put a squad out as good as I can to keep this club in this division.

“My first full season we got into the play-offs and I think everyone thought that was just going to be the norm. We over-achieved big time and last year was a little bit of a fact finder because they were then trying to build the ground. Now, they’ve built it and they’ve got to pay for it, so the reality is the ground and the club come first and hopefully in time the supporters get behind us and we can maybe give it a go where we have a charge at it.

“But at the moment staying in the division will be another achievement but me being me, I want more than just staying in the league. I don’t go anywhere just to do enough, so we’ll be doing our all to do the best we can.”

Cray Wanderers Legend Ian Jenkins and former players including Andy Silk, Jamie Kempster and Ian Rawlings were in attendance tonight.

Smith was asked how it felt for him to lead the club out at Flamingo Park for the first time.

“Listen, it’s an honour. I’ve said it before, it’s a great honour. When I came in here it was all about the project and growing the club and building it up step-by-step.

“People said it was never going to happen two years ago and it’s happened and I’m just so pleased for Gary Hillman, Sam Wright and Michael Paye and the other guys that are involved because I think it’s a dream and hopefully their dreams have come true”

On being visited by club royalty, Smith added: Smith added: ”It’s brilliant. It does mean a lot. I love seeing Jenko and all the ex-players. I know some of them, Silky, being at Bromley. I played with Silky as a kid and it’s great (to see them all here tonight).

“This is their club. I’m hoping they put pictures of them on the wall, they’re the history of this club, they’re the foundation of it. They went through all the bad times of borrowing clubs and playing here and playing there, Oxford Road, Bromley, training everywhere. 

“This is their club, so I’m honoured that I’m manager of their club and I hope I can succeed on where they want to get to as well.”

Cray Wanderers: Shaun Rowley, Lateef Adaja, Darion Dowrich, David Ijaha, Quade Taylor, Tom Bonner (Archie Johnson 27, Alex Teniola 83)), Kenny Coker (Dontai Stewart 55), Frankie Raymond (Arezki Hamouchene 56), David Smith, Nyren Clunis, Charles Edwards (Anthony Cook 74).

Booked: Quade Taylor 50, Charles Edwards 54, David Ijaha 88, Anthony Cook 90

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Max Ovenden, Barney Williams, Tom Chambers, Danny Waldren (Sonny Black 63), Kiki Oshilaja, Cem Tumkaya, Andre Coker (Michael Ademiluyi 68), Matthew Vigor, Freddie Parker (Adam Coombes 89), Hassan Ibrahiym (Lyle Della-Verde 68), Denzel Gayle (Clement Asledu 87).

Goals: Denzel Gayle 58, Freddie Parker 60

Booked: Kiki Oshilaja 30, Sonny Black 90

Attendance: 840
Referee: Mr Richard Wharton
Assistants: Mr Andreas Anastasiou & Mr Toby Carlisle