Cray Wanderers 1-2 Leatherhead - I feel I've been let down by my team today, says Ian Jenkins

CRAY WANDERERS  1-2  LEATHERHEAD
Ryman Premier League
Sunday 25^th March 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

CRAY WANDERERS manager Ian Jenkins says his side’s first half performance was the worst he has seen from his side since taking over as manager back in 1999.


 

The Wands went into the game sitting in fifth-place in the Ryman Premier League table with 58 points from 34 games, and they could have moved four points clear of sixth-placed Hendon, who they play at Wembley’s Vale Farm this coming Tuesday evening, had they picked up three points against Richard Brady’s Leatherhead.

The Tanners are in the bottom four but their deserved win over Cray Wanderers today keeps their survival hopes alive, as they are now only three points adrift of Harrow Borough, a club that lost to Tonbridge Angels in the Ryman Premier League play-off semi-final at the end of last season.

Leatherhead had the game won inside the opening 24 minutes, through Charlie Ottaway’s header and Tommy Hutchings dink over the Cray Wanderers keeper, before substitute James Darvill opened his goalscoring account for his new club in his second appearance, having signed from Brady’s former club, Sittingbourne, albeit the striker played only three games, without scoring, for the Bourne Park outfit, against Whyteleafe, Chipstead and Hythe Town earlier in the month.

Jenkins, 44, described his side’s performance as, “Terrible!  Worst performance, first half, we’ve had.  It’s a massive statement, since I’ve been manager to be honest with you.  Useless!”

When asked why his side performed so badly, in front of their third largest crowd of the season, Jenkins added: “You put it to the players don’t you?  I don’t want answers from them.  I don’t normally have a chat in the dressing room.  I’ll talk to them maybe in the week on Tuesday night, but I don’t know.  I ain’t got a clue!”

Leatherhead, who have been described as the Wands’ bogey-side, started the game on the front foot and they should have opened the scoring after only 52 seconds when Ottaway laid the ball off to his strike partner Greg Andrews, whose right-footed drive from 20-yards flashed past Andy Walker’s post.

Tyrone Sterling, who began beside Joe Vines at the heart of defence, before switching to the left wing when Jenkins opted to change his formation at the break, gave possession away to the impressive Ottaway, who set up another chance for Andrews, but he stroked another right-footed drive wide from similar range.

Jenkins said he was disappointed by the way that Leatherhead deservedly opened the scoring inside the opening 12 minutes.

The Surrey side won themselves a free-kick just outside the corner of the penalty area and Andrews whipped in an excellent right-footed free-kick towards the far post.  The ball curled around the two-man wall and the delivery left Walker and his defence flat-footed and Ottaway ghosted in and powered a header past Walker from four-yards.

Jenkins said: “I was on the bench watching the 9 in the box, who’s marking him? Who’s marking him? Who’s marking him?  Goal!  No-one picked him up.  It weren’t even good movement.  He got in between two players.  Simple as that!  I don’t understand whose picking him up?”

Leatherhead doubled their lead twelve minutes later, helped by a poor piece of defending from Sterling.

Sterling, who was making his 216^th appearance for the Bromley-based club, gifted possession to Ottaway, who swept the ball forward for Hutchings, who raced into the penalty area and his dinked finish over the advancing Walker saw the ball bounce into the back of an empty net.

Jenkins pointed the finger of blame at Sterling, saying, “Another mistake.  There’s goals there that we shouldn’t be giving away, especially with the way we’ve been playing.

“It’s disappointing. All down to us!  Fair play to them, you can say they deserved the result, yes.  We didn’t play well at all.”

At this stage Cray Wanderers were in disarray and it was only a matter of time that Leatherhead would score again.

Vines, who didn’t have his greatest game in a Cray shirt, gifted Leatherhead a corner when he nodded the out for a corner, despite Walker calling for the ball.

Leatherhead left-back Adam Gross cut the resulting corner back to Mark Simmons, who whipped in a cross into the box, where big central defender Jerry Nnamani headed the ball down and Walker made a comfortable catch.

Cray Wanderers’ first chance on goal finally came in the 32^nd minute.

Danny Phillips twisted and turned his marker on the corner of the Leatherhead penalty area and cut the ball back to Sam Long, whose cross sailed towards the far post, but an unmarked Chris Saunders powered his header past the near post from six-yards.

Jenkins added: “It sums up what you said there, the first chance on 30-odd minutes.  Just sums it up really that we didn’t create anything.  We weren’t at the game.  There was not really a player you can say he’s put a shift in. 

“They’ve all got to look at themselves and say we weren’t good enough.   We’ve got another chance Tuesday ain’t we?”

Leatherhead ended a dominant first half with another chance when right-back Jamie Coyle threw the ball to Elliott Thompson, who cut into the penalty area and his left-footed shot on the angle was gathered at the second attempt by Walker at his near post.

Had a neutral walked into the  ground not knowing the teams, you would have thought the Leatherhead team in green were challenging for a play-off spot as Cray Wanderers put in a poor performance on a rock hard playing surface.

Jenkins had a face like thunder when he disappeared down the players’ tunnel at the break and sent his players back out onto the pitch within five minutes and players were seen in a huddle with assistant manager Joe Francis and fitness coach Terry Groom.

When asked to explain why he sent his players back out so early, Jenkins replied, “Me and Joe don’t really lose our rags without any reason.  I went in there, obviously I weren’t happy!

“I said there’s a lot of people here today. A lot of my old mates, players I played with nineteen-years-ago at the club.  They’ve come to watch us play, haven’t seen us all season. I tell them what a good, footballing side we are and we do THAT!

Jenkins added: “It disappoints me.  I’m gutted!  I feel I’ve been let down by my team today!”

The early recovery, however, failed to materialise, but influential club captain Mark Willy came off the bench in the 56^th minute to make his 300^th appearance for the club.

“I didn’t know that,” admitted Jenkins, when told of the former Wimbledon and Bromley central defender’s milestone at the club.

“It’s a shame he had to come on for that!

“Fair play to him, though!  He’s been brilliant for us. He’s our skipper. You couldn’t ask for a better skipper to have. He does it on the pitch.  He’s back now, hopefully he’ll have a run of games and if selected get himself back fit.”

Leigh Bremner, who has scored 99 career goals in 251 appearances for the Wands, cut inside and laid the ball off to Phillips, whose left-footed shot summed up the lack of quality coming from the Cray Wanderers team – the ball rose high above the North Stand behind the goal.

Cray Wanderers finally called visiting keeper Chico Ramos into making his first save in the 61^st minute.

Saunders did well to dance his way down the right towards the by-line and he cut the ball back for striker Tommy Whitnell, whose low right-footed shot was blocked by Ramos and Whitnell’s second bite of the cherry was also blocked.

Then came a bizarre free-kick routine, which took a couple of minutes to complete, but was wasted.

Long waited over the wall and his team-mates Tyrone Sterling, Whitnell and Bremner stood immediately in front of an annoyed Ramos, in a hope to put off the Leatherhead keeper.

However, as soon as the whistle blew, the trio sprinted back into an onside position before Long stroked a right-footed free-kick over the wall and Ramos had the last laugh as he caught the ball comfortably.

Jenkins said: “We do it all the time. It’s a free-kick we work on all the time and we’ve scored from it.  Clarky’s curled one into the top corner.

“All it does, it puts the keeper off a little bit.  You’re allowed to do it, no referee has pulled up about it.  They stay in front of the keeper and the whistle blows, they get onside and hopefully it goes in the top corner. 

“It’s one of them. If it upsets the keeper it works.  If it don’t, it’s one of those things. It’s something different.”

Cray Wanderers didn’t repeat that free-kick again.  Long did float in a free-kick from the right which was met by a glancing header from Vines, which was comfortably caught by Ramos.

With little over ten minutes remaining, Ramos was forced into getting quickly down on to his knees to make a low save as Long drilled a low swerving right-footed drive from 25-yards, after he cut in from the left after a move which started from Phillips down the left flank.

Cray Wanderers scored what turned out to be a consolation in the 85^th minute.

Whitnell poked the ball to Bremner down the left channel and from the corner of the penalty area the striker whipped in a cross towards the far post and Darvill arrived and headed the ball down and past Ramos from six-yards.

Jenkins said: “He done well Jamie.  He done well last week, he came on and set a goal up for the winner.  We’ve got some good new signings there. 

“There was plenty of time left.  He must’ve played ten minutes (of stoppage time).

“We didn’t really deserve anything out of the game.  You could see us creating a half chance late on and nicking something.”e done HHhee

Leatherhead went close when Walker came out of his penalty area and his weak header was pounced upon by Ottaway, who sent a lob sailing over Walker’s head and the ball landed wide of the far post, with Willy getting back on the line beside the post.

Leatherhead then struck the crossbar when former Dartford and Erith & Belvedere defender Gross whipped in a left-footed corner from the right to find Ottaway unmarked at the far post and his header bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and was cleared away.

Ramos was almost embarrassed when Darvill’s shot on the turn took a wicked bounce in front of him, although the Leatherhead keeper got down low to save.

Both sides could have scored during nine minutes and fourteen seconds of injury time, although no-one knows where referee Jason Richardson, who was heard disrespectfully addressing Andrews as “Oi Player!” when he wanted to speak to the Leatherhead striker, found all of that stoppage time.

Willy was booked for a lunge on Leatherhead substitute Billy Manners, who had poked the ball forward to release Ottaway through on goal, despite being fouled by the Cray defender, who was booked when there was a break in play. 

But Ottaway scuffed his shot as he tried to beat Walker at his near post.  The goalkeeper stuck out his left leg to make the block.

Cray Wanderers didn’t deserve anything out of the game, but Sterling swept a left-footed shot wide of the post from 20-yards.

Jenkins, meanwhile, has promised changes ahead of their trip to Hendon (Vale Farm, Wembley) on Tuesday night and demands a reaction against a club who will leapfrog over them into fifth-place if the home side claim the victory.

He said: “There will be a few changes on Tuesday night.  It’s a massive game.  We go there, we don’t want to lose and Hendon taking over us, but we’ve got to have a reaction from today.  We normally react after a poor display so hopefully on Tuesday we will react.

“Results could’ve gone against us (yesterday) and they didn’t.  It is important we have to go on another run again and if we get into the play-offs you want to be the form side going into them.”

Cray Wanderers: Andy Walker, Danny Young, Alex Bentley (James Darvill 63), Sam Long, Joe Vines, Tyrone Sterling, Tommy Whitnell, Chris Saunders, Leigh Bremner, Danny Phillips, Jack Clark (Mark Willy 56).
Subs: Alex Stravious, Lewis Perkins, Tony Dolby

Goal:  James Darvill 85

Booked: Mark Willy 90, Leigh Bremner 90

Leatherhead: Chico Ramos, Jamie Coyle, Adam Gross, Dan Dean, Jerry Nnamani, Mark Simmons, Elliott Thompson (Billy Manners 81), Charlie Holness, Harry Ottaway, Tony Hutchings (Kev Terry 71), Greg Andrews (Vernon Francis 59).
Subs:  Rob Hill, Colin Richmond

Goals: Charlie Ottaway 12, Tommy Hutchings 24

Booked: Greg Andrews 53, Dan Dean 77

Attendance: 268
Referee:  Mr Jason Richardson (Pinner, Middlesex)
Assistants: Mr Michael Oakes (Hillingdon, Middlesex) & Mr Andrew Hickman (Northolt, Middlesex)