Cray Valley 2-1 Wingate & Finchley - We're getting a name for ourselves beating higher league opposition, says Millers' match-winner Paul Gross

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)  2-1  WINGATE & FINCHLEY
London Senior Cup (Sponsored by Coventry Scaffolding) Quarter-Final
Wednesday 18^th February 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

MATCHWINNER Paul Gross says he will be delighted if he can guide his Cray Valley side to the London Senior Cup Final in his first season in charge of the club.



CUP SHOCK: Cray Valley produced a cup shock thanks to a winning goal from player-manager Paul Gross

The 32-year-old manager played the entire 90 minutes as an emergency striker and looped in the winner as the eighth-placed Southern Counties East Football League side pulled off a shock to knock out ninth-placed Ryman Premier Leaguers Wingate & Finchley.

The Millers will now travel to Ryman League Division One South side Tooting & Mitcham United after reaching the Semi-Finals for the second successive season.

Former Bolton Wanderers striker, Thomas Youngs, 21, scored his first goal for the Eltham based club to give the hosts the lead against the run of play.

But Wingate & Finchley deservedly equalised just before the break through Jack Read’s strike, before Gross’s third goal of the season won it for the Millers.

“We’re really making a name for ourselves beating higher league opposition in this competition so another great performance from the lads,” said the player-manager.

Wingate & Finchley started with seven players that went down to a 3-2 defeat at Kingstonian in the Ryman Premier League at the weekend.

They created the first chance of the game after eleven minutes when Read and Tommy Tejan-Sie linked up to set up David Knight, who hit a right-footed drive over from 25-yards.

Read then swept the ball out to winger Karl Oliyide, who cut inside to play the ball back to Read, who scuffed his low shot into Stevie Sutton’s hands from 20-yards.

Read then whipped in a low cross and Tejan-Sie’s first time shot was comfortably gathered by Sutton.

But Sutton almost gifted Wingate & Finchley the lead in the 21^st minute.

Millers’ left-back Adam Gross rolled the ball back to an out of position keeper, who kicked the ball straight to Read, whose first time right-footed angled drive from 25-yards flashed past the far post.

But Sutton excelled and kept his side in the game on more than one occasion, scooping the man-of-the-match award.

Paul Gross said: “I don’t need to keep going over and over. I know how good he is. He keeps showing it as the weeks go on.”

Corner-specialist Knight swung in the ball from the left, which was punched away by Sutton, who parried Rob Laney’s right-footed hooked volley towards the near post from six-yards.

Oliyide then played the ball inside to Knight, who stung the keeper’s fingers with a powerful right-footed drive from 35-yards.

But Cray Valley grabbed the lead – against the run of play – in the 35^th minute.

Joe Matthews clipped a ball through the heart of the Wingate & Finchley defence to release Youngs down the slope and the striker kept his composure to chip the ball over the goalkeeper to find the far corner of the net from sixteen-yards.

“We said before the game Saturday our two centre halves, if they’re on it, we play. If there deliveries are good, we play. We play out from the back four. We use their balls. On Saturday it was just hit and hope. Tonight we had a bit more purpose on it.

“A quality ball from Joe – he’s got that in his locker – and what a finish! The boy took one touch and lifted it over the keeper.

“He’s come out of Bolton Wanderers. He’s just been released and he’s been sent down to get some games so I don’t know how long we’ll have him for but he’s a quality player.

“We had three strikers out tonight so you’ve seen I’ve had to play and we got him in and he done exactly what we brought him in for.”

Sutton made a smart low save to his left to deny Laney scoring his tenth goal of the season, before he made a brilliant double save.

Winger Laney played the ball in from the left and the ball found the unmarked Oliyide at the far post and Sutton got down low to his left to make the block and recovered to hold onto Read’s follow-up shot.

“Keeps you in it,” added the manager, who added: “I think they go and score shortly after that but again he’s stood there, not done much before that but when he’s been called into action, he does what he has to do!”

But manager Gross was bitterly disappointed in the manner that Wingate & Finchley deservedly levelled in the 42^nd minute.

Read played the ball into Knight on the edge of the penalty area and Cray Valley had a chance to clear their lines but didn’t and Read drilled his left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from sixteen-yards.

“Good finish, but scrappy build-up,” admitted Gross.

“They got in behind our midfield, in front of our back four. It was too easy for me. The player received the ball on the turn and then it’s bobbled about a bit. We thrashed it a couple of times trying to clear it.  It was a good finish but nothing Stevie could do with that one.”

When asked about his thoughts at the break, Gross replied: “Get going, keep competing. We went 11 games unbeaten that’s because we compete with sides and we do the right things. Saturday that all went out the window, losing 2-0 at Crowborough.

“We didn’t have a moan up. We just said we have a reaction tonight and you can’t ask for no better than that so keep doing what we’re doing and we know we’d carry on getting chances against a good side, I thought.”

Wingate & Finchley created their first chance inside the opening five minutes of the second half.

Left-back Ronayne Marsh-Brown and Laney combined down the left and Marsh-Brown cut the ball back from the by-line but Knight’s first time shot was pushed around the post by the diving Sutton.

But Cray Valley won it through a modest Paul Gross after 54 minutes.

Winger Ben Healy centred low from the left and Gross cracked a left-footed shot on the turn, which looped into the top left-hand corner from 12-yards, with keeper Jack Metcalffe rooted to the spot.

“Look, I’m not taking any credit. I fell over, hit it, it’s gone in the top corner, so be it,” said Gross.

“I played myself up front tonight, tried to score and I have scored but it’s not a great goal, but it’s not about what I have done. It’s about the desire, the performance of the team.

“Anyone could have scored that! I was just interested in the way we played and we got the win so luckily, maybe goes some way to why I picked myself but as I say it was a lucky goal.

“I want to leave the praise for the team. Let’s just call it a great team performance. I’m only there to help the boys out as much as I can.”

Cray Valley almost killed the game off when James Hawkins found Healy in space at the far post but he steered his shot just past the near post from a tight angle.

From that moment on, it was backs against the wall for the Millers as Wingate & Finchley pressed for the equaliser.

Oliyide and Marsh-Brown linked up again and Oliyide’s cross sailed over to the unmarked Read, who powered his right-footed angled drive just over the bar from 20-yards.

But Wingate & Finchley should have equalised in the 65^th minute.

Knight delivered an in-swinging corner from the left and Read planted his free header over the bar from six-yards, holding his head in his hands in agony.

“One time we switched off. He just got half a yard on Ozzie (Tommy Osborne) and it went over,” said Gross.

“You’re playing a team two league’s above us challenging for the play-offs. We’re a brand new team out here. We’re just starting to get our act together since October so we’re going to switch off.

“They’re going to have moments in the game. But I thought overall we were good for our win.”

Laney centred for Read to sweep his shot over the bar from 12-yards, before Paul Gross cracked an angled drive from the corner of the box straight at the visiting keeper at the other end.

Wingate & Finchley’s two left-sided players combined again and this time Tejan-Sie curled his shot around the far post from 20-yards.

Cray Valley weathered the storm and Adam Gross, Jimmy Rogers and Paul Gross combined but Rogers’ right-footed drive sailed over from 20-yards.

But Wingate & Finchley continued to press for the equaliser to take the tie to a penalty shoot-out.

Gross said: “I keep saying to people, go back three months ago, different side, we would have folded! We would have lost that game 3-2. Not now! Not with the boys we’ve got!

“They would give me anything. They’re honest. They might not be the best players in the world but they’re honest and that’s what I want to work with.

“We wasn’t going to let that lead go tonight. You could sense it with the boys, the way they defended, they weren’t going to give it up.”

Ola Sogbanmu picked the ball up in midfield and broke before Knight played Marsh-Brown in behind the Millers’ defence but his low shot was smartly saved by Sutton, diving low to his left to hold.

When Sutton was beaten – Sogbanmu’s downward header from Knight’s seventh corner of the game – Ronnie Vint was on the line to clear the ball away.

Knight was to be thwarted again by Sutton inside the final five minutes, the keeper saving low to his left.

But a resilient Cray Valley skimmed the crossbar at the death through Adam Gross’ left-footed dipping free-kick from a yard outside the box and held on to earn a trip to Tooting & Mitcham United in the next round.

“Last year we beat Tooting on the way to the semi-finals on penalties,” recalled Gross.

“We knocked out two Ryman Premier teams. We’ll go there, we’ll do what we can do. We’ll set-up again, try and be hard to beat, compete, what will be will be.

“If we can get a final in my first season I’ll be over the moon!

When asked whether the club can go on and win the silverware, Gross replied: “If we can get to a final, if we win it, once you’re there on the day anything can happen as we all know.”

Gross takes his side to Beckenham Town on Saturday, before hosting Crowborough Athletic on Wednesday, 25 February.

Cray Valley are ten points adrift of seventh-placed Beckenham Town going in to the game at Eden Park Avenue.

“Beckenham is a tough game but play like that, we’ll give anyone a game.  I’m not saying we’re the best team in the world but when we compete we can make a good account of ourselves.  We don’t worry about playing anyone really.

“Beckenham will be looking to get one over on us because we beat them earlier on in the season and we need to bounce back and get one over on Crowborough because we let ourselves down when we went there so now’s a good time to not let them do the double over us.

“We’ll just keep plodding along. We’re going to lose some, win some and draw but what I won’t accept games like Saturday so the minimum requirement is effort. We’re going to lose games. We’re not the best team in this league but I expect us to compete and when we do we can be a very good side.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Stevie Sutton, Ryan Sawyer, Adam Gross, Jimmy Rogers, Joe Matthews, Ronnie Vint, Tommy Osborne, Ben Healy, Paul Gross, Thomas Youngs, James Hawkins (Callum O’Shea 82).
Subs: Connor Dobson, Jim Doherty, Joe Cennamo

Goals: Thomas Youngs 35, Paul Gross 54

Booked: Joe Matthews 60

Wingate & Finchley: Jack Metcalffe, Paul Wright (Gavin Suddell 85), Ronayne Marsh-Brown, Ola Sogbanmu, Marc Weatherstone, Stuart Lake, David Knight, Tommy Tejan-Sie, Rob Laney, Jack Read (Tulani Pama 73), Karl Oliyide.
Subs: Joe Sharpe, Karl Stevenson, Gavin King

Goal: Jack Read 42

Booked: Paul Wright 62, Marc Weatherstone 90

Attendance: 64
Referee: Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Freddie Collins (Beckenham) & Mr Ivaylo Kyosev (Palmers Green, London N13)