The sky's the limit for London's Oldest Football Club, says very disappointed but very proud Cray Wanderers chairman Gary Hillman

CRAY WANDERERS chairman Gary Hillman paid tribute to Tim O’Shea and his brilliant part-timers for giving League One highflyers Stockport County an almighty scare at Flamingo Park yesterday.

The Magical Wands were playing their first ever FA Cup First Round tie in their 166-year history and were an agonising 273 seconds away from producing one of the biggest FA Cup First Round shocks in history.

A record crowd were at the two-year-old Flamingo Park to witness O’Shea’s brilliant players go into a 2-0 lead, courtesy of Sammy McLeod and THAT sublime 20-yard top-right-hand corner free-kick from Alex Hernandez during an outstanding first-half performance.

“Obviously very disappointed but obviously very proud,” said Mr Hillman, who has been chairman for the last 32 years.

“That first half, how good was we? Unbelievable performance.  Two-nil, could’ve been three.  I think the third goal would’ve got it over the line.

“I done an interview with BBC Match of the Day with Alex Scott and I did say the last 10 minutes is going to count with the fitness and yes, it’s proven.”

Two headed goals from strikers Kyle Wooton (81) and Mikael Mandron 27 seconds into four minutes of stoppage time brought Jimmy McNulty’s side back from the dead and it was inevitable that the League One side would progress through to the Second Round for the seventh successive season when Lewis Fiorini tucked home an extra time penalty as O’Shea’s outstanding players ran out of gas.

“I’m really more gutted for the boys because they couldn’t put any more effort in – unbelievable,” said Mr Hillman.

“Unbelievable performance by every single player. I don’t get involved with stuff on the pitch but the tactics were absolutely spot on today, everything was spot on.

“But off the pitch it was a bit of a worry, the car park and everything and I thought it worked out really well today.   Everything sort of worked well and we came across really good on the TV.

“It was a massive day for Cray Wanderers. It was put on the map worldwide but we’ve got Three Bridges on Tuesday night. I don’t think we’ll be sold out but hopefully.

“The League is always number one. You’re never going to win The FA Cup obviously but it would be nice to go to the next round but there you go, there it is.”

The iconic FA Cup silverware was at Flamingo Park but any miracle hopes were dashed as Stockport County’s wave after wave of attacks kept coming during the second half.

“When the board went up – I was expecting the board to go up ‘eight, nine or 10 minutes’ because there’s been a few injuries, lots of subs and all that and when it said ‘four’ I thought 'Jesus, it’s only four minutes',  27 seconds later they scored.

“That’s football. It’s a sickener. It’s a real sickener. But that’s football. It’s a proud day for the club. Everyone involved with the club, the team, but you look at that team, they’re Division One.  Everyone says ‘they are by far the best team in Div One’ and we was on par – unbelievable!

“If you was a stranger watching that, you think we’re a Div One team.

“But it all boils down to Tuesday night, Three Bridges now. That’s a sort of big game for us.”

Cray Wanderers have picked up £86,425 from their FA Cup run this season.  £20,625 from beating Lewes, Maidstone United, Chippenham Town and Bedford Town in qualifying, £50,000 in broadcasting fees and £15,800 for losing today.

“That’s nice, like you can’t buy the exposure worldwide and the TV and the experience today.  Money can’t buy that, so 86 grand is an unbelievable amount of money," said Mr Hillman.

“But if you had said ‘what do you want to do? Have 86 grand or the TV or the exposure, blah, blah, blah, I’d say the TV exposure and hopefully move our fan base up to try to touch that thousand average crowd.

“If we can get up to that thousand, we’re 600-700 now, so if we can get touching a thousand, that’s unbelievable. When we moved in here (two years ago) we said we’re hoping to average 400-500, so hopefully from today we can get a lot more support.”

Cray Wanderers can expect approaches from clubs for their outstanding right-winger Olajuwon Ogunwamide, 27, who embarrassed full-time pros on the big stage.

“That’s always a good problem to have isn’t it?  When you’ve got a really good team people want to nick your players. I always say, it’s a good problem to have," said Mr Hillman.

"But location where we are, near to London, the boys want to play in this area. That’s what we want to do is create a team, atmosphere, experience that players would rather play for us than anyone else for a few dollars more.”

The Wands chairman was delighted with how the event – the club’s biggest ever – passed off without any issues.

“I spoke to loads of Stockport fans today, really lots of them and they were so complimentary because they’ve been in non-league, they got down to National North and they was very complimentary about the place, everything about it and how they were served and that’s so pleasing.

“That (staging such an event) was my biggest fear. I didn’t want anything (bad) happening.  People came in. TV have taken up so much space down here (with nine vehicles). It’s unbelievable!

“Even the TV people were saying ‘we’ve done Champions League and Premier League and we’ve never seen as much tv as this’ because we had TNT and BBC down here, so I was a bit worried about that.

“But it worked out really well and another thrown in grenade was you’re not allowed to watch the game having a beer, which is the first time we’ve ever done that, so you’re throwing that in the equation as well, so there’s a lot of things to deal and cope with, which I thought we dealt and coped with really well, so I’m really proud with everyone involved with the club on that.”

Cray Wanderers on worldwide television and giving viewers and the fans inside Flamingo Park an enjoyable experience.

Only 237 seconds away from producing one of the biggest ever FA Cup First Round upsets  – what a script that would have been written on this website.

Legendary former player and manager Ian Jenkins said he was feeling gutted, having attended the game with his former players.

Mr Hillman is keen to develop Flamingo Park further.

“The big sign beneath the balcony, I’m always pretty proud of being The Oldest Football Club in London.

“I’ve just seen the highlights on Match Of the Day on the TV upstairs and that came across really prominently.

“I’ve always said you can’t buy history. In real terms London is the capital of the world and we’re the Oldest Football Club in London and I’ve always said the sky’s the limit.

“You’ve seen the site around here. We can develop this site, develop this ground out to Football League, very easy. The sky is the limit but let’s just take it one stage at a time.

“I’ve been here 32 years. I’m only three divisions higher than when I started, so Rome wasn’t built in a day.

“But it’s a nice place to come and watch football. I’m not blowing my own trumpet.”

Meanwhile, the club has announced that Tuesday night's home game against Three Bridges will be FREE ENTRY as a 'thank you to our fans' incredible support' against Stockport County yesterday.

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

Cray Wanderers  v  Three Bridges
Isthmian League South East Division
Tuesday 10 November 2026
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Flamingo Park, Sidcup by-pass, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HL