Cray Wanderers 0-0 Arlesey Town - Their minds will be on Coventry, says Paul Blade

CRAY WANDERERS  0-0  ARLESEY TOWN
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Qualifying Round
Sunday 28^th October 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

CRAY WANDERERS assistant manager Paul Blade believes Arlesey Town will have their FA Cup First Round tie at Coventry City on their minds when they welcome the Wands to Hitchin Road for a FA Carlsberg Trophy Third Qualifying Round replay on Tuesday night.

Cray Wanderers, who went into the game sitting in tenth-place in the Ryman Premier League, played out their first goal-less draw of the season in front of a sparse Hayes Lane.

Arlesey Town, who are in eighth-place in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier League table, were the more likely to go into tomorrow’s final qualifying round draw against a Cray Wanderers side that weren’t their usual attacking threat in front of goal.

Manager Ian Jenkins kept faith with the same starting eleven that threw away a 2-0 lead before having to settle for a point at home to Bury Town, who equalised at the death, in midweek.

Blade, 46, said: “I suppose you can say it’s frustrating, but at the same time on reflection on the game it probably looked like one team was trying to win it in the second half - and I think that was us!

“Obviously their minds were elsewhere, possibly on next week, but at the same time it’s just one of them.  We tried to win it, we’ve had opportunities.  I think they’ve had the one chance, they didn’t really create much, apart from that, so we’re disappointed that we didn’t get a result.”

Arlesey, who travel to fourth-from-bottom League One side Coventry City next Saturday for the club’s first ever appearance in the FA Cup First Round, will feel hard done by that they didn’t snatch victory here today and Blade’s post-match comments were rather surprising.

Arlesey created the game’s first opening inside the opening seven minutes when central midfielder Jeanmal Prosper clipped the ball over the top of the Cray defence and after Joe Vines missed his tackle and Mark Willy slipped over, Chris Dillon wasted the opportunity by lashing his right-footed shot wide of the near post as keeper Andy Walker advanced off his line.

Glove-wearing Arlesey midfielder, Aston Goss, played the ball inside to Chris Marsh, who under pressure drove a first time right-footed shot on the turn, which went wide of the far post.

Arlesey’s first attempt on target arrived in the 27^th minute when left-back Sol Davis released Marsh down the left and his run took him to the by-line before his over-hit his cross was retrieved by Goss, who cut the ball back to an unmarked Prosper, but his swept shot from 25-yards lacked power and bounced into Walker’s gloves.

Cray Wanderers’ first goalscoring attempt finally arrived in the 41^st minute when they were awarded a free-kick after Danny Phillips was held by Drew Roberts.

Alex Stavrinou touched the ball to Phillips, who played the ball inside to Michael Power, who was given time and space to drill a right-footed shot from 25-yards, which forced visiting keeper Nathan Abbey into diving to his right to palm around the post.

Blade was disappointed that Power didn’t take at least one of his opportunities.

“It’s hard to get him onto the ball,” he said.   “He tried to get on to the ball. He had about three or four shots which went over the bar, which we tried to isolate and get him on to the ball in those areas where he’s dangerous.”

Power created a chance for himself when his run took him past three players and quick feet allowed him to turn into space before stroking a left-footed shot over the goal from 25-yards.

Cray Wanderers’ right-back, Billy Burgess, pumped a long ball into the Arlesey box where Paul Vines was left unmarked but the striker saw his header bounce into Abbey’s gloves.

Arlesey, who were a big and strong side, started the second half on the front foot and Davis floated a long free-kick into the penalty area where defender Ryan Frater’s glancing header from just inside the penalty area was caught by Cray Wanderers’ keeper Walker.

Cray Wanderers were relieved when Arlesey struck the post in the 55^th minute.

Roberts’ in-swinging corner came in from the left and the Wands defence half cleared the ball out to Marsh, whose right-footed drive whistled through a crowded penalty area and bounced against the foot of the left-hand post, which was the closest either side came to waking up the Hayes Lane crowd.

Walker was called into action on the hour-mark when the Cray Wanderers keeper thwarted Arlesey.

Hatch released Goss hurtling down the right-hand side of the penalty area and he cut the ball back to Hatch, whose right-footed shot on the turn from 22-yards, forced Walker into diving to his left to push the ball aside.

Arlesey Town, at this point, carried more of a threat to break the stalemate.

But Blade surprisingly said: “It was quite a quick pace second half, but the ascendancy was us going forward. We did probably look the lively going forward. 

“They were big, physical and strong and they’d probably look to try to get something from a set-piece but over the recent weeks we’ve conceded goals in the last minute, injury-time, so it’s nice to keep a clean sheet for the full 90 minutes.”

But Power lashed a right-footed shot over the Arlesey crossbar from 20-yards at the other end, but the Kent side lacked their usual clinical selves.  Striker, Leigh Bremner, was his usual hard working self but received no change from Arlesey’s two solid central defenders, Shane Blackett and skipper Frater.

Blade said: “They were a big side. I wouldn’t call them mobile as we thought. We didn’t come alive until the second half, the last 35 minutes.  They sat back. I think we caused them problems. They dealt with it. They were strong.  The five (Frater) and four (Blackett) at the back for them were good, they were strong. They’ve done their defensive jobs. I think where we got that joy was the full-backs so that’s something to look forward to on Tuesday.”

Halfway through the second half, Hatch’s initial shot was blocked by Joe Vines, who alongside Willy formed a solid partnership, but Hatch’s blasted the follow-up shot over.

Holding midfielder, Aaron Day, who was making his 237^th appearance for the home side, pumped the ball upfield, which bounced off Paul Vines’ pumped out chest as he won his aerial challenge and Power took a touch before unleashing a left-footed drive, which sailed over from 30-yards.

Cray Wanderers thought they had snatched the victory when they created a couple of decent chances.

The impressive Phillips swung out a corner from the left and Joe Vines’ bullet header was cleared off the line by Davis.

Phillips then linked up well with Tyrone Sterling down the left to reach the by-line before whipping in a precise cross towards the edge of the Arlesey box, but Paul Vines hooked a first-time volley with his left-foot, which sailed over the crossbar.

Arlesey then created a trio of chances to avoid an unwanted Tuesday night replay at Hitchin Road.

Hatch clipped ball over the top carved open the Cray Wanderers defence but Dillon’s fiercely-struck right-footed angled drive was expertly saved by Walker, who dived full-stretch to his right to palm behind for a corner.

Frater almost marked a solid display with a goal, but his looping header, following Roberts’ resulting corner, was caught by Walker underneath his crossbar.

Goss’s through ball gave Hatch an ideal opportunity to prevent a replay when he was put through on goal but his right-footed chip was plucked out of the air by the stretching Walker.

Walker then caught Marsh’s right-footed curler from 25-yards on his goal-line as Arlesey pressed for the winner.

Blade was pleased that Walker kept his fourth clean sheet of the season, by saying, “It’s nice for him to get a clean sheet. He made two saves probably and that was it really. He didn’t have a lot else to do.

“I think their keeper was the more busier.  It’s just one of those things. We’re happy to keep clean sheets and defensively I think we’ve been better that way as a unit.  We’ve been tighter and we did create a few opportunities second half. We just didn’t get that final bit of quality or a clinical finish that we need to nick a 1-0.  That was probably the only result it was going to be today, was a 1-0, but then again we’re in the hat.”

Blade insists Jenkins’ men will claim victory in Bedfordshire on Tuesday night.

He said: “Today, I think it was good defensively, ok going forward, but it gives us another opportunity on Tuesday.

“We’re still in the hat.  We’ve been given another opportunity. Their minds might be on a little bit more closer to the (Coventry) game that they’ve got coming up so we go there full of confidence.”

When asked what kind of game the replay will be like, Blade replied, “Same as.  Probably they might be a little bit more tentative and they might sit back a little bit more and they might not put a foot in where you think they might. 

“Next Saturday is a big day for their club and a big day for the players.  It’s like anything, you play First Round of The FA Cup it’s going to play on their mind and we have to take advantage of that. We’ve got to use that to our advantage and we will try to do that.”

Blade knows the importance of collecting as much prize money for the club in FA competitions.

He said: “We’ve had a lot of players who have been involved further in the competition so they know what it’s all about.  The goal at the end of it is a trip to Wembley, which is lovely, but financially there’s more money in it as well so the further you go the more finances you get out of it.  We’ll just try to go as far as we can.”

Cray Wanderers: Andy Walker, Billy Burgess, Tyrone Sterling, Aaron Day, Mark Willy, Joe Vines, Paul Vines, Alex Stavrinou, Leigh Bremner, Danny Phillips (Jack Clark 87), Michael Power (Laurent Hamici 80).
Subs: Williams Pearoux, James Fray, Dan Parkinson

Booked: Joe Vines 76

Arlesey Town: Nathan Abbey, Luke Thurlbourne, Sol Davis, Shane Blackett, Ryan Frater, Jeanmal Prosper, Aston Goss, James Hatch, Chris Dillon, Drew Roberts, Chris Marsh.
Subs: Kim Forsythe, Jordan Patrick, Phil Draycott, Zema Abbey, Nick Bussey

Attendance: 96
Referee: Mr Dave Bushell (Tottenham, London N17)
Assistants: Mr Patrick Shanahan (London E18) & Mr Daniel Richardson (Enfield, Middlesex)