Cray Wanderers 0-0 Hendon - We've got to get better, says Cray Wanderers' boss Ian Jenkins

CRAY WANDERERS  0-0  HENDON
Ryman Premier League
Sunday 27^th November 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

CRAY WANDERERS boss Ian Jenkins says he is pleased with the point that keeps his side in sixth-place in the Ryman Premier League table following their disappointing goal-less stalemate against Hendon.


The Wands have now drawn their last three home games (their last home game against Canvey Island also ended goal-less) and their 28^th point of the season moved them to within three points of fifth-placed side Lewes after 17 league outings.

Goalkeeper Andy Walker kept his third clean sheet in four games with a couple of fine saves during the second half, but Jenkins felt a draw was a fair result against a Hendon side that have now leapfrogged over Bury Town into seventh place.

When asked whether he was disappointed with the result, Jenkins who gave his side a blast inside the home dressing room after the game, replied, “Not really!  We got a point, didn’t we?  We could’ve lost, yes.  We’ve got something out of it.  That’s not really disappointing is it?  We didn’t play particularly well. We got a point against a good side.”

Hendon gave a familiar name his fourth appearance at the heart of their defence, former Chelsea star Frank Sinclair, who made 169 appearances during an eight-year stint at Stamford Bridge earlier in his career.

But Jenkins felt his strike force of Leigh Bremner and Tommy Whitnell should have given the 39-year-old more problems during this Ryman Premier League stalemate.

He said: “We had a couple of chances second half but we didn’t play our passing game, but I felt we could’ve got around a bit better. I thought we could’ve got the ball behind their centre half, who was a bit vulnerable out there.  I thought we could’ve played him a lot better but we didn’t.

“He was (a Premier League defender for Chelsea), but he’s playing for Hendon now and he’s 39-years-old.   I told the boys to get in behind him second half and we didn’t do it and it disappoints me.

“I said we’ve got to get better and they’ve got to listen to what we’re asking them to do.  It’s alright having all the pretty stuff, we like all that. I encourage them to play all the time.  When we’ve got opportunities to beat teams by a little bit of a tactical stuff and playing on a weak link, we’ve got to do it and if we don’t do it then we’re not going to win games and that’s the reason we didn’t win game today.”

Jenkins felt Sinclair struggled to cope with the pace of the Ryman Premier League but praised him for putting something back into the game.

“We should’ve got something out of it with him playing, that’s what I’m saying,” explained Jenkins.  “This is a quick level. It’s not just an easy stroll out there.  You’ve got players’ who want to win games.  We should’ve played on him more.

“We knew he was playing as we went to watch them last week so I knew he was there as I read about it in the paper. He’s gone down there to help (their coach, Junior Lewis).   I think it’s fantastic.  It’s just a shame a few more ex-pros don’t do that for non-league and go and help them out at the end of their career because not only the ability on the pitch is good, I suppose, it’s what he brings to the dressing room.  Young players look up (to him) and he can help them out because he’s been there and done it.”

Hendon created the first chance inside the opening five minutes when Mauro Vilhete flashed a right-footed shot past the near post from 20-yards, following a lay-off from journeyman striker, Isaiah Rankin.

Within three minutes, Cray created a decent chance following their first corner of the game, but skipper Mark Willy came up from the back and planted a header over the crossbar from just four-yards out after nudging his marker to meet Sam Long’s far post corner from the left.

Willy’s aerial presence caused havoc in the Hendon defence in the 19^th minute but his header deflected wide after Whitnell had initially flicked on Jack Clark’s floated left-footed free-kick from the right.

Hendon untroubled Walker at the half-way stage when Elliott Godfrey cut the ball back to right-back James Parker, who played the ball inside to James Fisher (who went off injured just before the break), but his speculative right-footed drive from 35-yards flashed wide.

Hendon went closer when Darren Currie, another player with Football League experience, shrugged off Alex Bentley (a left-back playing in an unfamiliar position in the middle of the park)  and played the ball through the heart of the Cray defence but Rankin’s shot summed up the afternoon when he drilled a left-footed shot wide from 20-yards.

Cray Wanderers’ versatile stalwart, Tyrone Sterling, who was playing beside Willy at the heart of defence, picked the ball up from Bentley and went on a forty-yard run with the ball straight down the middle of the pitch, shrugging off Dave Diedhio’s challenge, before scuffing a left-footed shot wide of the right-hand post from 25-yards.

Allan McLeod, playing at left-back, played the ball into Bremner’s feet, who under pressure cut the ball back to Bentley, who cracked a right-footed drive from 30-yards, which floated over the top of the far post.

But Cray’s best first half chance arrived in the 35^th minute when hardworking forward Bremner was denied his seventh goal of the season by Hendon’s goalkeeper Berkley Laurencin.

McLeod played a low defensive splitting pass inbetween right-back Parker and centre half Ryan Wharton to put Bremner through on goal but his left-footed shot, which was heading towards the far corner, was stopped by the outstretched left arm.

Sterling was guilty of giving the ball away and Hendon went close when Godfrey pulled the trigger on the very edge of the penalty area but a saving challenge ensured the ball looped over the Cray crossbar.

Jenkins was disappointed that his side treated the ball like a hot potato, guilty of giving the ball away too often.

He said:  “There was a lot of snatching at clearances and passing and people running too fast and trying to pass the ball off instead of settling down and picking a decent pass.  I don’t know why that was, maybe there was a bit of tension going out there.   The longer the game goes on the more tense the players’ get.  They don’t want to lose it, maybe that was the reason but we’ve got good quality, we should do better with the ball.”

Cray Wanderers squandered an excellent chance to take the three points in the 55^th minute.

Chris Saunders and Danny Phillips combined in a triangle and Bremner was freed down the right but the striker dragged his angled right-footed drive across Laurencin and wide of the far post from seventeen-yards.

McLeod then released Bremner in a similar position and his low centre found Whitnell at the near post but all the quiet striker could do was flick the ball straight at Laurencin from six-yards.

Just past the half-way mark of the second half and Cray created another chance when Bremner floated the ball across the penalty area to find Long at the far post but he hit a half-volley into the ground and Laurencin parried the shot and the ball looped up and the keeper gathered the ball as it dropped harmlessly beside the other post.

“It would’ve gone in on another day!” came Jenkins’ reply.

Bremner’s back-heel in midfield found Clark on the left wing and he played a cross into Phillips, whose right-footed shot looped over the Hendon crossbar.

But Hendon almost snatched the lead in the 72^nd minute when a combination of Walker and post saved the Kent side.

Hendon skipper Scott Cousins played a free-kick over to the right to find Vilhete, who cut in before unleashing a left-footed shot, which was parried by Walker.  The ball came back out to Vilhete, who took the ball into the middle of the pitch and cracked another left-footed drive, this time from 20-yards, which beat Walker and crashed off the left-hand post.

Hendon called the former Maidstone United stopper into more action with a clever corner-kick routine straight off the training ground.

Around five green shirts darted into the penalty area but instead of whipping in a corner from the right, Currie cut the ball back to an unmarked Ryan Wharton, who floated in a cross into the penalty area and Vilhete was left unmarked but his header from eight-yards was clawed out by Walker, diving low down to his right to make an excellent save.

Jenkins said: “That’s what he’s there for at the end of the day!  Those saves were good saves but saveable.  They were difficult saves but he’s there to do that.  He’s been good for us all year.”

Jenkins added: “I’ve just said in there the last three home games we’ve drawn so two nil-nil’s at least we’re not conceding, which is a massive plus to keep clean sheets for Walks and the back four is really good so if were not conceding we’re not losing games.

Cray’s last chance, however, came in the last nine minutes when Sterling picked the ball up and he let fly with a left-footed drive from 30-yards, the ball flashing agonisingly wide of the left-post, but Jenkins had to settle for a point.

He said: “I’m happy with any point you get.  I think it was a fair result today.  Both teams gave it their all and maybe cancelled each other out a little bit because we’re both good footballing sides but a point’s a point at the end of the day.”

Cray Wanderers: Andy Walker, Allan McLeod, Tyrone Sterling, Chris Saunders, Mark Willy, Sam Long, Tommy Whitnell (Michael Power 88), Jack Clark, Leigh Bremner, Danny Phillips, Alex Bentley.
Subs: Lewis Perkins, Tony Dolby, Danny Young, Callum Ball.

Booked: Chris Saunders 86, Alex Bentley 90

Hendon: Berkley Laurencin, James Parker, Scott Cousins, Ryan Wharton, Frank Sinclair, Dave Diedhiou, James Fisher (Kevin Maclaren 45), Elliott Godfrey (Jerome Federico 83), Isaiah Rankin (Carl McCluskey 87), Darren Currie, Mauro Vilhete.
Subs: Mustafa Mirzai, Junior Lewis

Booked: Dave Diedhiou 34, Frank Sinclair 45

Attendance: 190
Referee: Mr Matt Eva (Farnham, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Andrew Connor (Farnham, Surrey) & Mr Craig Melinn (Guildford, Surrey)