|
F A TROPHY PRELIMINARY ROUND—SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER 2007
MATCH REPORTER: TREVOR MULLIGAN
The Wanderers’ record of scoring in every match in this competition since first entering it three seasons ago continues, in a victory that was a lot easier than the scoreline suggests.
From the off it was noticeable that Cray were the stronger of the two sides, with two or three goalbound attempts within the opening couple of minutes. Indeed, it only took the Wands 43 seconds to win their first corner in this game—some 70 minutes quicker than it took them against Leatherhead the week before.
Cray were denied a penalty in the 6th minute when Michael Power was put through by George Fenwick. Power was unceremoniously upended by a defender, but amazingly the referee waved away the visiting team’s valid appeals.
Rather than being disheartened, the Wanderers continued to pepper the home end and after 11 minutes Jamie Wood let fly with an audacious left foot shot that just cleared the wrong side of the crossbar. This was quickly followed by one of Whitstable’s rare attacks, as on 13 minutes Jon Neal was put through at the other end and, with only Glen Knight to beat, the Town player somehow screwed the ball several feet wide of the far post.
Back came Cray again and another speculative Jamie Wood left-foot drive after 17 minutes went agonisingly wide of the upright. This almost caught out Kevin Fewell in the home goal as everybody was expecting the Cray man to pass the ball to the outer left flank instead. A minute later the Wands were awarded a free kick on the right for hand ball. Jamie Wood took a short one to Mark Willy, but his faintest of touches was not forceful enough to pose direct danger, and the ball found its way instead flashing across the front of goal where the incoming Ryan Royston just failed to make contact.
Julian Curnow’s 23rd minute effort, in which he beat three players before unleashing a superb right foot shot from the edge of the penalty area, flew just wide as Cray sought to get the elusive first goal. It looked as though that goal would come as, in the 34th minute, Fenwick headed a Jamie Wood free kick against the crossbar and from the rebound the ball was passed to Power and he put in a blistering shot from 20 yards that brought a spectacular save from Fewell.
In the 38th minute Jamie Wood appeared to be floored by Alex Hossick in an off-the-ball incident, but the referee had words with his team mate Marcus Perona—and a few other players besides—in a clear case of mistaken identity.
The second half was only four minutes old when Cray deservedly went ahead. Following some deft interplay between Power and Fenwick, the ball was passed to Tyrone Sterling on the edge of the box and he pounded past two Whitstable defenders before passing the ball to Aaron Day to score from six yards. Two minutes later Day, who was carrying a knock when he scored, was replaced by Lewis Wood.
Cray seemed to have sewn the game up after 65 minutes as a pass by recent signing Lumumba Amena to Sterling resulted in the defender-turned-striker putting a pinpoint cross on to the head of Power, but the ball bolted over the bar. The second goal was not too far away, however, and it arrived in the strangest of circumstances in the 68th minute. A Jamie Wood corner from the right was forcefully headed back across goal by Curnow and the luckless Rob Thomas—facing towards his own goal—put in the wrong kind of tackle and could only watch in agony as the ball crossed the line.
Power received a heavy knock as Cray continued to surge forward looking for more goals and he had to be treated on the touchline by physio Katie Cheeseman for several minutes before coming back into play. Unfortunately for Cray, he had to be replaced a few minutes later.
As the game petered out into an certain Cray victory, Lewis Wood had a goal-laden effort pushed around the post by Fewell in the 78th minute and Sam Denly saw a header go just wide from a free kick down the other end in the 82nd minute.
Cray Wanderers: Knight, Day (L. Wood 51), Sterling, Fenwick (Baker 66), Willy, Royston, Chapman, J. Wood, Curnow, Power (Matthews 75), Amena. Subs not used: Crane, Skillman.
Goalscorers: Day (49), Thomas (og, 68).
Attendance: 202
Wands Supporters’ Man-of-the-Match: Julian Curnow.
|