Cray Wanderers 1-2 AFC Sudbury - I thought our attitude was horrendous, admits Cray Wanderers boss Tony Russell

Cray Wanderers 1 – 2 AFC Sudbury
Location	Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
Kickoff	15/12/2015 19:45

CRAY WANDERERS  1-2  AFC SUDBURY
Ryman League Division One North
Tuesday 15^th December 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

CRAY WANDERERS manager Tony Russell questioned his players’ attitude and desire after being outplayed by AFC Sudbury during this top-of-the-table clash.

The Suffolk side moved to within three points of Ryman League Division One North leaders Cray Wanderers, who suffered only their third league defeat in 26 games on a wet night at Hayes Lane.

Both sides went into this game on the back of five straight wins but it was AFC Sudbury who dominated the first half and only had Ryan Henshaw’s header to show for their efforts.

Cray Wanderers clawed themselves back through an own goal scored by Ollie Berquez before AFC Sudbury claimed a deserved victory through a late goal from substitute George Clarke.

“One hundred per cent, I think the scoreline probably flattered us if I’m honest,” admitted Russell afterwards.

“I don’t think they set the tone, I thought we set the tone when Ben Payne passed it straight to their bloke after about three seconds.

“Razor (my assistant, Ray Powell) came in and said the warm-up was horrendous and everyone’s swanning about like we’ve won the league.

“Yes, disappointed massively, not disappointed with the performance as such, I’m disappointed with our attitude.  I thought our attitude was horrendous to a man.  I don’t think there’s many who come out of it with much credit.

“I think we’re appalling how we approached the game.  We’ve turned up like we think we’ve won the league – it’s not good enough!

“Fair play to Sudbury, they’ve probably made it a little hard work for themselves second half if I’m honest because I think we were shocking! I didn’t think we were that good second half. We huffed and puffed more.”

AFC Sudbury set the tone for the first half as Cray Wanderers goalkeeper Nick Blue was called into action after only 15 seconds.

Ben Payne gave the ball away to Luke Callander, who played the ball inside to strike partner Craig Parker and Blue dived to his left to save his right-footed drive from 25-yards.

Jordan Blackwell swung in the resulting corner from the right towards the far post and Payne made amends when he cleared Henshaw’s header of the line.

AFC Sudbury started the game on the front foot and they created their third chance through Jack Wilkinson’s cross from the left.

The left-back whipped in a cross, the ball was knocked down by Callander and Blackwell blazed his left-footed shot over the bar from 8-yards.

It was no surprise when AFC Sudbury took a deserved lead with 9 minutes and 55 seconds on the clock.

Blackwell swung in his second corner from the right which was met by a downward header by Henshaw at the far post, the ball bouncing through Blue’s legs into the back of the net.

Russell revealed that Michael Frieter lost his man at the far post but the on-loan winger from Gillingham wasn’t the right man to mark dominant Henshaw.

“That’s a cop out as well. Mike the young pro from Gillingham broke his nose on Saturday. He shouldn’t even be playing, he’s such an honest kid he wanted to play. When you’ve broken your nose, his eyes and his mouth is swollen, the last thing he really wants to do is head a ball, yet we’re letting him pick up the centre half, you know it’s not good enough!

“We said at half-time it’s cheap! Too many people were just copping out!

“We’ve won five in a row but the manner in which you lose and the manner in which you apply yourself and too many people just went through the motions. I said to them, ‘some of you should be ashamed of yourselves!”

When asked who should have been marking Henshaw at set-pieces, Russell replied: “I’m angry, clearly angry! They know! I ain’t going to come out here and name names, they know!”

AFC Sudbury created many more chances during a one-sided first half that left visiting keeper Marcus Garnham a spectator at a sparse Hayes Lane.

Ben Robinson was given licence to roam forward from his position at right-back before slipping the ball through to Callander and his right-footed drive from 20-yards forced Blue into making his second smart save, diving to his left to parry the shot and gathering at the second attempt.

AFC Sudbury went close again following a slick five-man move in and around the Wands’ penalty area after 19 minutes.

Berquez played the ball up to Callander, who linked up well with Parker, who cut the ball back for Blackwell, who played the ball inside to Callander to hit a first time drive from 18-yards just over the bar with his right-foot.

The impressive Callander then cut inside before dragging his rolling shot past the far post as Cray Wanderers struggled to reach their opponents penalty area.

The busy Blue made a comfortable save on the half-hour mark when Callander swept the ball out to Blackwell down the left, who cut the ball onto his right foot before curling his shot straight into the keeper’s midriff from 20-yards.

AFC Sudbury’s central defender Henshaw was a big threat at the far post from Blackwell’s precise deliveries from the right.  He made space for himself at the far post but hooked his shot straight into Blue’s hands from a tight angle.

Cray Wanderers took 39 minutes to create their first chance of the night and they almost grabbed the lead going into half-time, despite putting in a poor performance.

The Wands were awarded a free-kick 26-yards from goal when Andre McCollin was fouled by Henshaw.

Up stepped left-back Grant Basey, who stroked his left-footed free-kick over the wall and towards the bottom right-hand corner, but Garnham pulled off a fine low save to his left to turn the ball around the post.

Garnham then pulled of a world-class save to deny Cray Wanderers again just 98 seconds later.

James Duckworth and Leigh Bremner linked up well down the left hand side and Duckworth shaped up to shoot on the edge of the box, but instead opted to lay the ball out to McCollin, who cut inside and cracked a left-footed curler towards the far corner.

The ball appeared destined to sail into the far corner, but Garnham dived to his right to tip the ball around the post.

“We had a bit of a green shoot, a bit of a bright spark in the last ten minutes,” said Russell.

“Basey had a free-kick and I thought the keeper done well and it skidded off the surface and the Andre one followed quickly and the keeper made another good save.

“I think I would’ve been embarrassed to celebrate if we would’ve scored. I was fuming standing on the line. I didn’t even get excited about it! I was fuming!”

AFC Sudbury created one further chance before the break when Blackwell’s fifth corner of the night was cut back for Parker to drill his shot past the near post.

Russell revealed he read his side the riot act during the interval as he tried to raise them for a top-of-the-table clash.

“I said to them at half-time, who could come out of that first half with any credit?  Who showed any desire? Who showed anything?

“I said at half-time after I said my piece, is the fact that we were 1-0 down is the only positive I can come out with.  I was angry, there were a few words said.

“I can handle getting beaten by whoever, sometimes you just don’t play well. What I can’t handle is people’s attitudes. I can’t accept that! Me and Razor will not accept that!

“You can’t accept people turning up and playing for this club swanning about like they’re doing us a favour.

“We’re giving them information and they’re not doing it. If you don’t want to do it, go! Simple as that! You either do what we’re asking you to do, or go and do it somewhere else!

“I’m usually quite calm, I usually give information rather than noise volumes, but I’m afraid it was more noise volumes this time. I think they should be ashamed of themselves, I said that to them!”

Blue was called into action again inside the opening four minutes of the second half.

Robinson played the ball into Callander’s feet and he cut into the Cray Wanderers penalty area and tried to find the bottom near corner from 10-yards, but the busy keeper held the ball at his near post.

“Luke was at Heybridge Swifts when we were at VCD and he scored a bagful of goals and went with the manager to Chelmsford and he’s finding his way back. He ain’t a bad player, he’s alright,” Russell said of Sudbury’s impressive number nine.

“It’s a good learning curve for Nathan (Fox) playing against him. He got rolled a couple of times but I think he will be a very good player. I thought he was a little bit naïve but he’s a good young player.”

Cray Wanderers were to be denied an equaliser through another fine save from Garnham.

Nathan Fox played the ball out wide to Michael Frieter, who played a short pass inside to Aryan Tajbakhsh, who whipped in a deep cross towards the far post for McCollin to power a downward header which forced Garnham to make a low save to his right at his near post.

“That’s the frustrating thing for how bad we’ve played we’ve actually created the better chances in the game,” added Russell.

“That’s the worst I’ve seen us all season and we’ve created some glorious chances.

“I could be sitting here and saying we didn’t play well but we’ve got three points but then the problem when you don’t get the three points there’s an inquest.”

Despite being outplayed, Cray Wanderers grabbed an equaliser with 58 minutes on the clock.

AFC Sudbury conceded a rather soft free-kick on the left touchline. The ball was swept into the box by Duckworth’s right foot.  Keeper Garnham punched the ball away, only as far as McCollin, who drove the ball back into a crowded penalty area and Berquez stuck out his left leg to divert the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of his own net.

“The goalie had a bit of a poor decision punching it downwards and Andre’s cracked it through a crowd and to be honest I didn’t see who scored. I just saw it go in,” said Russell.

“Then as soon as it went in I thought maybe we could get something out of it? I thought they were slowing things down and I thought they would settle or a draw.

“Then we got drawn into a basketball match, it’s completely stretched and it was you attack, we attack.”

The goal lifted spirits and Cray Wanderers started to press as they attacked down the slope, putting AFC Sudbury on the back foot for the first time.

But despite the ball going up one end of the pitch to the other, clear cut chances were at a premium.

Russell admitted he was missing injured central midfield general Lea Dawson.

“I try not to think about injured players but if ever there was a time for Daws, probably the first time,” said Russell, who confirmed striker Ben Hunt suffered a groin injury during the warm-up so couldn’t use him from the bench.

“He doesn’t run down the line and put crosses in, he just sits in there, wins his headers and tackles and he’s a leader. He’s our captain and we massively missed him today.”

Right-winger Jay Maybanks, who took both of Sudbury’s second half corners, sent his 35-yard free-kick sailing high over the crossbar after 65 minutes.

Cray Wanderers only chance following the equaliser came with less than nine minutes remaining.

Tajbakhsh was stretching but he still managed to poke the ball through to Bremner, who flashed his first time right-footed drive just past the right-hand post from 25-yards.

Russell said: “Once we – I wouldn’t say get going because that would probably be an exaggeration – once we started to play a little we got the ball out wide.  The ball was coming in the box. We made a couple of poor decisions in the final third but it’s just frustrating because I know if we’d have played we would’ve won.

“We played them at their place and murdered them just by passing and moving it. We beat them 6-2. It was a bit of a mauling at their place and we’ve won five in a row. Maybe I just put it down to they think this league is easy and they can just turn up and do what they want. They’ve let themselves down.”

But a deep Bremner was at fault for giving the ball away that led to AFC Sudbury netting a deserved winner with six minutes left.

Bremner lost the ball inside his own half in the middle and Callander played the ball to Parker, who centred for Clarke to place his first time shot underneath the keeper to give exactly what the impressive visitors’ deserved – all three points.

“Brems was probably our brightest spark today,” said Russell.

“We spoke to him earlier, he got caught on the ball about five minutes before and we spoke to him and said he’s taken too, long on the ball. 

“He said he got caught and it’s poor from him because the ball’s just bouncing everyone’s shouting ‘man on’, he’s waiting and waiting. It’s like slow motion and they’ve broke.

“It’s hard because for the back four the problem we’ve got is when we turn it into a basketball match the game gets so stretched, there’s a massive area in the middle of the pitch and they’re just coming through. 

“I’ve played at the back and you’re a sitting duck. You’ve got runners coming either side of you and there’s nothing they can do. 

“I don’t want to go too hard on Brems because he gave his usual game when he gives everything for the club. He’ll be disappointed with it but that’s the most disappointing thing. For how bad we’ve played we’ve got done by a corner because someone didn’t check his runner and then done by someone taking too long on the ball and getting robbed.”

Cray Wanderers are still top on 57 points from 25 games, although AFC Sudbury have claimed 54 points from 24 league outings.

“I’m not too worried about that,” added Russell.

“I’m more worried about us.  I don’t think you can look at the prize in front. I think you’ve got to concentrate on the here and now, game by game and how you apply yourself and that is not what we’re looking for win, lose or draw.  You have to apply ourselves better than that.

“I generally think having played them at their place winning 6-2 flattered them. It could’ve been anything! We were walking through them and the fact we’ve won five games in a row and we’ve turned up, I just think it was complacency and I think they startled us a little bit because they came and got in our faces.”

Cray Wanderers can ill-afford complacency when third-from-bottom side Barkingside visit Hayes Lane on Saturday.

“I had a bit of a mare last night,” revealed Russell.  “I drove all the way to Ilford, got outside the ground and was told it was off so that was nice.  I haven’t seen Barkingside, we haven’t played them this year.”

Russell added: “We need to bring in a midfielder.  I tried to get one in who I was interested in from the Kent League and I couldn’t afford him! But we’re going to try to bring another one in before the game. I’m hoping to get it done tomorrow.

“It doesn’t matter who we played today, we would’ve got turned over. I generally think Sudbury gave us too respect because we were top. When we scored they panicked.

“Realistically we were there for the taking, whether we was playing the top, bottom, middle wherever. We would’ve got turned over today because you can’t turn up for a game of football with that attitude!”

Cray Wanderers: Nick Blue, Adetayo Osifuwa, Grant Basey, Nathan Fox, Ben Payne, Sean Roberts, Aryan Tajbakhsh, Michael Frieter, Leigh Bremner, Andre McCollin, James Duckworth (Uche Ibemere 89).
Subs: Ray Powell, Ben Hunt, Joe Vines, Sam Faulkner

Goal: Ollie Berquez 58 (own goal)

Booked: Adetayo Osifuwa 64

AFC Sudbury: Marcus Garnham, Ben Robinson, Jack Wilkinson, Ollie Berquez, Ryan Henshaw, James Baker, Joe Maybanks (George Clarke 73), Sam Clarke, Luke Callander (Ross Bailey 86), Craig Parker, Jordan Blackwell.
Subs: Jack Newman, Stefano Mallardo, Kyran Clements

Goals: Ryan Henshaw 10, George Clarke 84

Booked: Ryan Henshaw 74

Attendance: 113
Referee: Mr Chris Francis
Assistants: Mr Matt Russell & Mr Richard May