Cray Wanderers 5-1 Haringey Borough - We want to keep doing as well as we can. We had no expectation on where we wanted to end up, says Cray Wanderers boss Neil Smith

Cray Wanderers 5 – 1 Haringey Borough
Location	Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
Kickoff	11/12/2022 15:00

CRAY WANDERERS  5-1  HARINGEY BOROUGH
Isthmian League Premier Division
Sunday 11 December 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

CRAY WANDERERS manager Neil Smith says all of his players’ were outstanding after showing their ruthless streak against Haringey Borough at a wintry Hayes Lane.

The Wands climbed up a couple of places into sixth-place in the Isthmian League Premier Division table with 33 points from 21 games although Tom Loiziou’s men were also a threat in the final third but remain in fifteenth-place in the table with 24 points from their 20 league games.

Haringey Borough were the better side for most of the first half but most of their chances went over the crossbar, much like Harry Kane’s second penalty in England’s 2-1 defeat to holders France in last night’s World Cup Quarter-Final in Qatar.

Cray Wanderers grabbed the lead in the 25^th minute through Dan Bassett’s ninth goal of the season before Haringey Borough deservedly restored parity on the stroke of half-time through left-back Michael O’Donoghe’s first goal of the season.

Cray Wanderers were clinical during the second half with centre-half Jalen Jones heading in his first goal of the season from a set-piece, before Anthony Cook scored direct from two set-pieces to take his goalscoring tally up to sixth for the season, before powerfully built striker Omari Hibbert – on a dual registration from National League South side Dulwich Hamlet - tapped in a fifth.

Haringey Borough created numerous second half chances in the fog but couldn’t beat goalkeeper Shaun Rowley for a second time in this open encounter watched by a frozen 166 fans inside Hayes Lane.

“It was a weird game because they had chances as well,” said Smith, following his side’s eighth league win of the season.

“Our keeper had to be on his mettle today because there were so many chances but we were clinical today.  We’ve probably had games with more chances and not taken them but today getting the (five) goals, it was amazing!

“They’ve given me everything, like they do every week. I think we’ve closed down well from the front. I think Yahaya Bamba was outstanding as a centre-forward today, I thought they all were but today they didn’t give me anything, they gave each other something today, they worked for each other.”

Haringey Borough started the game on the front foot, creating their first chance after only 63 seconds.

Georgios Aresti put the ball into the Cray Wanderers box, the ball was cleared out to holding midfielder Scott Durojaiye, who cut inside Sam Wood before hitting a right-footed half-volley sailing over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Kaylen Hinds then got in between the two centre-halves, emergency centre-half Mitchell Chapman and Jones – to chip the ball over Rowley and just over the crossbar shortly afterwards.

Cray Wanderers’ first opening arrived as early as the eighth minute.

Left-winger Bassett released the electrifying Yahaya Bamba down the left and he laid the ball off to Cook, who hit a first time right-footed drive sailing across the keeper and past the far post from 20-yards.

A big kick from visiting goalkeeper Luke Mewitt was controlled by Jones chest before he smashed a right-footed volley down the line.

Winger Nyren Clunis knocked the ball on, while under pressure from O’Donoghue, before holding midfielder Sam Skeffington played the ball along the edge of the 18-yard box for Bamba, who drove into the box before the striker drilled his right-footed drive over the top of the near post from 10-yards.

“I think if Yahaya can get his finishing right, I think he’s going to be a fantastic asset to the club,” Smith said of the former Sevenoaks Town attacker.

Haringey Borough then created some decent openings to deservedly take the lead.

Impressive six-goal striker Chaynie Djassi-Sambu linked up well with his team-mates and switched the ball out to impressive diminutive left-winger Alphanso Kennedy, who gave Cray Wanderers’ right-back Jephte Tanga a torrid time.

“They were looking for the switch against Jephte, who I thought had an outstanding game as well today. He’s done brilliant. He’s come in, it’s just one of those things where he was up against a good player today, so he had to be,” added Smith.

Kennedy reached the by-line and cut the ball back to Hinds on the edge of the box and Aresti teed up Durojaiye who skied a first-time right-footed drive over the crossbar from 18-yards.

Haringey Borough, who dominated the corner-count by nine to three, went close following their second flag kick in the 20^th minute.

Matthew Young’s delivery sailed over Fage-Burgin’s head and was recycled back into the box by Kennedy and no one picked up Young at the back post and he drove his low angled drive across the keeper and past the far post from 15-yards.

Young whipped in a quality delivery from the left into the corridor of uncertainly and Hinds rose to plant his free header over the crossbar from 10-yards.

“We knew from set-plays they were pretty strong. I think they’re very dangerous from set-plays, they’re renowned for it,” added Smith.

Cray Wanderers snatched the lead, against the run of play, with 24 minutes and 42 seconds on the clock.

Tanga stopped a raid down the left before slipping the ball into holding midfielder Wood, who pinged a left-footed 30-yard diagonal from right to left to send Bennett on his way.

Bamba was released, a couple of step-overs as he cut into the box before putting it on a plate for Bassett to drill a first time right-footed shot past Mewitt into the centre of the goal from 15-yards.

“It worked really well with Bamba’s pace. He’s always going to cause you problems but it was a fantastic ball by Woody and he put a nice ball in. He just had to get on the end of it and finish it, which Danny Bassett did.

“Listen, when we signed him there were a few clubs looking at him but he heard the things we wanted to do and where this club wants to go and he jumped on board and wherever I play him, whether it’s up top, our on the wing, he’ll get a goal.”

Haringey Borough were guilty of a glaring miss in the 32^nd minute and once again Kennedy was the architect.

Centre-halves Scott Mitchell and Jorge Djassi-Sambu exchanged passes and Djassi-Sambu clipped a long ball which sailed over Tanga’s head and Kennedy’s pace took him to the by-line before putting it on a plate for Hinds, who hit his first-time shot over the crossbar from eight-yards.

Haringey Borough struck the far post following their third corner of the game in the 36th minute.

Attacking midfielder Young’s delivery from the right was of high quality and Djassi-Sambu’s near post header from the edge of the six-yard box at the near post clipped the far post.

“It hit the post and they hit the crossbar as well. They had their chances but sometimes you’ve got to ride your luck and we had that little bit of luck today,” admitted Smith.

“They’ve had a couple of chances before they scored so we knew we had to sort something out. We just had to get to half-time without letting that goal in but unfortunately, we didn’t.”

Haringey Borough’s dominance paid off, however, as they levelled with 43 minutes and 56 seconds on the clock.

Central midfielder Aresti threaded a through ball along the deck and between the two centre-halves towards Fage-Burgin, who had his back to goal inside the box and his shot on the turn cracked the underside of the crossbar and O’Donoghue pounced inside the six-yard box to hook the ball into the right-hand corner.

“I thought the left-back was in an offside position from the first shot but obviously he wasn’t,” said Smith.

“They were having chances and they deserved to get the goal but we were disappointed with the way the goal came around and getting it just before half-time so we had to re-group.  It’s like starting again, you’re drawing at the moment so go out and make sure we tighten up where we needed to.

“There were warning signs. They put us under a bit of pressure.  They had some chances so we had to go in and we had to refresh at half-time. We had to get into the boys and make sure we were more solid for the diagonal.  We had to just prevent the diag going over Jephte’s head but also when we get the chances, the final ball has got to be better.”

The fog came down and visibility during the second half proved difficult.

Cray Wanderers created an opening after only 24 seconds when Wood threw the ball to left-back Harrison Sodje, who tried to cut inside his marker but the ball fell to Bamba, who unleashed a right-footed dipping drive just over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Cray Wanderers scored a simple goal just four minutes and 28 seconds into the second half, following a set-piece from within the right channel.

Wood’s left-foot clipped a quality delivery into the six-yard box for an unmarked Jones to head down and in with Mewitt rooted to the spot.

“You’ve got to look at the size of Jalen and he should be scoring more goals,” said Smith.

“He got on the end of that one.  Myself and Jalen has been practising and have been working on stuff and it put paid to it today. It was a brilliant goal.”

Haringey Borough, too, created chances and Kennedy’s pace down the left saw him set up a chance for Hinds, whose right-footed drive from 20-yards was comfortably saved by Rowley at his near post.

“They worked it really well in creating chances and they were a constant threat going forward and we rode our luck a little bit,” admitted Smith, as Haringey Borough also played their part in an open game.

Aresti then whipped in a cross from the right and Fage-Burgin’s hooked shot looped over the crossbar, as the striker aimed for the top far corner.

However, Cray Wanderers were clinical in front of goal and grabbed a third goal with 12 minutes and 31 seconds on the clock.

Djassi-Sambu was penalised for handball and goalkeeper Mewitt dived to his left but Cook drilled a low right-footed free-kick around the wall into the bottom right-hand corner from 25-yards.

“Cookie’s been doing that since I’ve known Cookie.  When I was at Bromley with Cookie, I know what he can do,” said Smith.

“He’s reversed it around the wall, he’s put it low so the keeper couldn’t get across and that’s what Cookie does and he’s in a rich vein of form at the moment, he’s scoring goals and long may it continue.”

Referee Scott Rudd awarded Cray Wanderers a penalty when Bamba’s pace resulted in Mitchell bringing him down and a yellow card was also issued to the Haringey Borough centre-half.

Cook drilled his right-footed penalty low, hard and straight down the middle, as Mewitt moved slightly to his right, as Cray Wanderers raced into a 4-1 lead with 18 minutes and 37 seconds on the clock.

If only Tottenham Hotspur and England captain Kane could have done something like that against France last night instead of replicating Chris Waddle’s orbit penalty against West Germany in the Semi-Final penalty shoot-out defeat in the Italian World Cup back in 1990.

“Listen, it was one of them, it was a penalty and Yahaya is always going to cause problems with his pace and then you’ve got to step up and score the penalty,” said Smith.

“I’ve known Cookie for years and he does what Cookie can do. As soon as he stepped up to take that penalty, you knew it was a goal.”

Haringey Borough produced a well-worked move in the final 18 minutes with Young’s diagonal pass releasing Hinds down the right and his cross was met by unmarked substitute Andronicos Georgiou at the far post but his shot went past the post.

Fage-Burgin linked up well with substitute right-back Callum Ismail, who played the ball to the edge of the Cray Wanderers box where Young cut onto his left-foot and tried to curl his shot into the top far corner from 20-yards, only for Rowley to dive to his right to tip the ball around the post for a corner.

Smith said: “When Shaun was called upon, he came up trumps. He pulled off a couple of good saves.

“Every time Haringey went forward they did cause us problems but we lost Sinn’kaye Christie and we had to play Mitch Chapman at centre-back, whose a centre midfield player and I thought he did brilliant for us.”

Cray Wanderers completed their scoring with their fifth goal with 35 minutes and 37 seconds on the clock.

Hibbert played the ball out to Bassett within the final third and Basset sprung into life and reached the by-line down the left and he put it on a plate for Hibbert who tapped the ball over the line from a couple of yards out after the awful Mewitt failed to cut the cross out at his near post.

“Believe it or not, we had an easier chance against Bognor on Wednesday (a 2-2 draw) and we didn’t take full advantage and put it away so it was a great for Omari to go on,” said Smith.

“Omari’s been ill, he’s literally come in today just to help me because we’ve lost a few players on Friday and I didn’t have time to replace them and Omari’s off his death bed, really, really ill, but put a shift in out there and got a goal.”

Andronicos Georgiou’s attempted back pass inside his defensive third was intercepted by Hibbert, who ran into the Haringey Borough box before dragging a low shot across the keeper and past the far post.

“I think he wanted to get a little bit closer but the defenders were catching up so he took a shot a little bit early and just pulled it,” added the Cray Wanderers boss.

The away side then created a headed chance following their penultimate corner inside the final couple of minutes, taken by Andronicos Georgiou from the right - but a far post header from within a crowd of players and within the fog, was headed down and looped up but was tipped over the bar by Rowley.

Hornchurch are top of the pile with 42 points from their 19 league games and the play-off places are currently occupied by Bishop’s Stortford (37 points from 18 games), Potters Bar Town (37 points from 19), Aveley (35 points from 20) and Enfield Town (33 points from 19), with Smith’s men closing in on a run of two wins and three draws from their last five league outings.

“Listen, when I walked in we were third-from-bottom trying to stay up so I think we’re three points away from what we actually got as a total of 36 points last year so to do that after 21 games, we’re hopefully stepping in the right direction,” said Smith.

“We want to keep doing as well as we can. We had no expectation of where we wanted to end up.  It was a brand new team, a brand new squad, brand new ideas for a brand new club so to be where we are is unbelievable and full testament to the players and staff.”

This was Cray Wanderers’ first home game since losing 1-0 to Wingate & Finchley on 19 November and Smith had this message to the home fans that braved the chilly conditions here today.

“Just say thanks for everything.  We’ve had five away trips on the trot and the majority have come to all of them, so it was nice to get a home game.  It was freezing cold weather but I hope they go home with a little warm feeling of a 5-1 win and hopefully proud of their team and the boys today,” said Smith.

Eleventh-placed Billericay Town visit Hayes Lane next Saturday, 17 December (15:00), before Smith takes his side to Margate on Monday 26 December (13:00) before Herne Bay visit Hayes Lane on Monday 2 January 2023 (15:00).

“Difficult game. Billericay are a big side in our division, they’ve got some fantastic players. They’ve got a great set up, obviously got relegated last year and they want to get up as soon as they can and we’re expecting a very, very difficult game against a very strong Billericay squad,” said Smith.

When asked about his current injury situation, Smith revealed he is looking to bring in new players in the next few days.

“Sinn’kaye Christie is out at the moment but hopefully might be ok for Saturday.  Tom Derry missed today so I’m hoping he’s back for Saturday. We’ve got Freddie Carter, who was at Gillingham, he should be back next week and hopefully we might have a couple of acquisitions ready for next Saturday.

“I’ve got three kids on the subs bench today (Leevi King-Bassett, Tyresse Heslop and Cerny Ando), they came and trained with us. I registered them literally the other day to get my numbers up just in case anything happened and low and behold they’re on my subs bench.

“I’ve got 13 fit players at the club at the moment and if they keep doing that, I’m happy with the 13 I’ve got.

“I’m looking at bringing in a couple of players, hopefully on Monday there should be a new player and hopefully a couple more on loan.”

Cray Wanderers: Shaun Rowley, Jephte Tanga, Harrison Sodje, Sam Skeffington (David Ijaha 68), Mitchell Chapman, Jalen Jones, Dan Bassett, Sam Wood, Yahaya Bamba, Anthony Cook (Leevi King-Bassett 86), Nyren Clunis (Omari Hibbert 63).
Subs: Tyresse Heslop, Cerny Ando

Goals: Dan Bassett 25, Jalen Jones 50, Anthony Cook 58, 64 (penalty), Omari Hibbert 81

Booked: Sam Skeffington 67, Jephte Tanga 73

Haringey Borough: Luke Mewitt, Samuel Owusu (Callum Ismail 42), Michael O’Donoghue, Scott Durojaiye, Scott Mitchell, Jorge Djassi-Sambu, Alphanso Kennedy (Andronicos Georgiou 59), Georgios Aresti (Stefanos Georgiou 74), Chaynie Fage-Burgin, Matthew Young, Kaylen Hinds.
Sub: Christos Djamas

Goal: Michael O’Donoghue 44

Booked: Scott Mitchell 63

Attendance: 166
Referee: Mr Scott Rudd
Assistants: Mr Ronald Albert & Mr Kehinde Agboola