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F A CUP FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND—SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2007
MATCH REPORTER: JERRY DOWLEN
Sharpshooting by AFC Dons took the game away from the Wands at the close of an action-packed second half that was not unlike watching Twenty20 cricket!
It was a huge contrast to the dull first half, when Cray for the first forty minutes seemed to be in awe of their Ryman Premier visitors, and instead of trying to build any attacking moves through midfield, they played a long-ball game that got them absolutely nowhere.
Dons grabbed the lead on 7 minutes when Hatton’s inswinging corner-kick hit the underside of the bar and the ball dropped invitingly for Leberl to stab it over the line.
Dons’ lively forwards found early gaps in the Cray defence, and the home side were indebted to Jamie Kempster for a saving tackle on Beckford and to Ryan Royston for clearing Hatton’s close-range header at an empty net.
Then on 43 and 44 minutes came the first indications that Cray could possibly breach the Dons defence if they remembered to pass the ball along the ground.
After good interplay by the Wood brothers down the left, Ross Lover bisected the Dons defence with a pass to the unmarked David Hall, but his cross-shot went disappointingly wide.
Kempster, covering every blade of grass on the pitch, started another fine move that ended with Lewis Wood wriggling through and shooting into the side netting.
The second half began quietly but soon burst into life as Beckford raced away to shoot wide with the goal at his mercy.
Cray’s reprieve lasted just one minute, for Beckford shot home with ease after Finn nodded down a right-wing cross from the mobile Butler on 52 minutes.
Aaron Day then made a dramatic clearance off the line as Dons threatened to run riot.
Cray gambled on chasing the game with all-out attack, replacing injured central defender Mark Willy with forward George Fenwick after 58 minutes.
Beckford again went close with a cross-shot, but Cray suddenly forced their way back into the game when Jamie Wood, making his 350th appearance for the Wands, made a zig-zag run up and across the field, finally releasing Lover for a powerful surge into the box and a neatly-placed low shot past Little.
That was on 63 minutes and it was only the linesman’s flag that prevented the score becoming 2-2 when Fenwick powered in a header from Cray’s next attack.
Losing the ball from their own quickly-taken free-kick, Cray were instantly punished when Finn shot home on 71 minutes.
There was barely time to write 1-3 in the notebook before Junior Baker took a through pass and gleefully smashed the ball past Little in the 72nd minute.
Exasperatingly for Cray supporters, their team lost concentration again and Webb skipped through to touch the ball past Glen Knight for 2-4 in the 73rd minute.
There was no let-up in the end-to-end action, with Dons forcing three consecutive corner-kicks that Cray cleared with great difficulty, while at the other end Jamie Wood carved out two shots that went just off target and Leberl kicked away a goal-laden low cross from Lover.
Royston’s firm header at the far post was taken by Little as Cray refused to give up, but finely-taken late goals by Beckford and Finn on 85 and 86 minutes exploited the inevitable gaps that Cray left at the back. It was a rather unkind sting in the tail for Cray to end up beaten by 2-6 but, with the sun shining and the ice-cream van doing a roaring trade, there can be few complaints from the 933 spectators at the afternoon’s entertainment value, even though this was the Wands’ first home defeat in the F A Cup for 17 years!
Cray Wanderers: Knight, Day, Luckett, J Wood, Willy (Fenwick 58), Royston, Lover, Kempster, Baker, L Wood, Hall. Subs not used: Sterling, Curnow, Whelan, Jenkins.
Attendance 933
Supporters’ MOM: Jamie Kempster.
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