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CRAY WANDERERS 0 WORTHING 0 Ryman Division One South, Saturday 19th January 2008 Report by Jerry Dowlen.
Considering the number of chances that were missed at both ends, a goalless draw was a most unlikely scoreline for this game, but ultimately Cray had to settle for a point and could not really argue that they deserved anything more.
If Cray had capitalised on their first half supremacy, a win might have been there for the taking. But the visitors raised their game after the interval, were hard to shake off the ball, and were more than a match for Cray in a lively second half.
Colin Luckett fired in two early shots for Cray, the first one being cleared off the line by Douglas and the second one deflected away for a corner-kick.
Ross Lover and Aaron Day were well off-target with long-range shots from deep on the right, and then on 22 minutes David Hall missed a good chance for Cray when he pounced on a ricochet but sent his shot over the bar in a one-on-one with visiting ‘keeper Banks.
With their skipper and lone striker Andrews being flagged offside three times, the Rebels created very little threat on the Cray goal until the 25th minute when Andrews unluckily trod on the ball to halt a well-worked move.
Skinner shot weakly when a half-chance fell to the visitors three minutes later, and Banks kept them in the game when he scrambled the ball away after a Jamie Wood corner-kick.
Cray went close again on 42 minutes when the ball travelled from Michael Power via Jamie Kempster to find Luckett on the left, and he jinked inside before crossing for Day to send a powerful header over the bar.
Even so it could have been Worthing who led at the interval. From the right, Skinner flighted a perfect cross to Andrews at the far post, but his header bounced back off the post.
There was another let-off for Cray in the 49th minute when Worthing had the first scoring opportunity after the break. While some of the Cray players were distracted by a temporarily raised flag from the assistant referee on the halfway line, Worthing played on and Davis broke clean through on goal. As he shaped to shoot, the ball took an unkind bounce and he scooped it over the bar.
Within a minute Cray had gone close twice, firstly when Wood’s free-kick sent the ball into the goalmouth where it struck the post before being cleared, and secondly when Lover pounded in a shot that Banks tipped over the bar.
Chances started to come thick and fast at both ends. Skinner closed in on goal from the right but was held up by Luckett and put his shot wide. Back to the other end and after receiving the ball from Lover’s free-kick Ryan Royston turned his marker and tested Banks with a low shot.
Cray looked certain to open the scoring in the 65th minute, but Wood produced the miss of the match when he blazed wide of an open goal after Power teed him up with a low cross from the left.
After that miss, Cray supporters might have feared that this wasn’t going to be Cray’s day and that the ever-improving Worthing team were going to nick the three points.
Fortunately for Cray, the visitors couldn’t shoot straight either, as was shown from two breakaway attacks when crosses from the left were begging to be rammed into the net, but the Wands miraculously survived.
With 80 minutes on the clock Andrews was nearly rewarded for his afternoon’s work when he half-sent his shot past Knight, but the Cray ‘keeper made an acrobatic leap to gather the ball and prevent it from crossing the line.
With the exception of a mass brawl that broke out halfway through the second half when the Wands took exception to Lovegrove’s high tackle on Kempster, this was a well contested game on a sound surface where a sprinkling of sand in the goalmouths was the only concession to the excessively wet weather of the last few weeks.
For the record, Cray’s unbeaten record in the League now stands at fourteen games, but the run of scoring in every game this season has now ended. Altogether the run lasted for 31 games – or for 34 games if you count the final three games of last season too.
Cray Wanderers: Knight, Day, Luckett, Aris, Willy (Sterling 61), Royston, Lover, Kempster, J Wood (Fenwick 90), Power, Hall (L Wood 76). Subs not used – Morris, Whitnell.
Supporters’ MOM – Aaron Day
Attendance: 180.
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