Cray Wanderers 2-4 Kingstonian - The league hasn't been lost today, says Francis

Seeing his side go down 4-2, the Cray Wanderers assistant admitted that the Ryman League Division One South title will not be won, or lost, on the final Saturday of the calendar year.

The former Kingstonian midfielder enjoyed a drink in the warmth of the clubhouse, speaking to K’s manager Alan Dowson, before he reflected his side’s second home league defeat of the season.

“No-one’s going to run away with this league,” Francis told www.kentishfootball.co.uk. “I’ve just spoken to Dowsie (Dowson), and everybody’s saying the same thing.”

Kingstonian got off to a flying start, racing into a 2-0 lead, with their only two shots on target inside the opening 22 minutes.

A long clearance from visiting goalkeeper Luke Garrard released Liam Collins down the right and his low cross found it’s way to Simon Huckle, who from ten yards out, stroked a right-footed shot, which bounced past a stranded Glen Knight and into the bottom left-hand corner.

Before that seventh minute strike, Huckle’s fifth goal of the season, Cray were off target through Bremner and Jamie Wood.

The impressive Collins set up another Kingstonian chance when the Cray defence failed to pick up Bobby Traynor from a throw and the prolific striker cracked a curling left-footed drive from 25-yards, which was comfortably saved by Knight.

Cray Wanderers had a mountain to climb as Carl Wilson-Denis scored the first of his two goals after 22 minutes.

Traynor burst past three defenders down the left hand side and after cutting into the penalty area centred for the striker, who slid the ball past the stranded Knight from eight-yards.

The long-serving Jamie Kempster, went ever so close to scoring on his 226^th appearance for the club, five minutes later.

The Cray midfielder was played in behind the K’s back four and he rounded the advancing goalkeeper and from an acute angle, the rolling ball was hacked off the line by central defender Wayne Finnie.

Another chance went begging when Kingstonian gave the ball away to Wood in the middle of the park and his pass found Tommy Whitnell down the left-hand side.

The striker whipped in a left-footed cross and this was met by a thumping header from Scott Kinch, which just cleared the crossbar from twelve yards out.

Cray Wanderers, meanwhile, deservedly pulled a goal back just two minutes before the break, courtesy of Luckett’s accurate left-foot.

Bremner was brought down by Finnie’s sliding tackle and Dartford based referee Mr Darren Blunden - who handled this big game well - pointed to the penalty spot.

And Luckett sent the diving Luke Garrard the wrong way and the Kent side were back in the game.

And Garrard pulled off the best save of the match to thwart the goalscoring left-back inside the opening two minutes of the second half.

After Bremner was upended, Luckett struck a curling left-footed free-kick from 25-yards, which was tipped over by the armband wearing diving goalkeeper.

Finnie almost made up for his earlier error when he glanced his header straight into Knight’s grateful arms as he headed Williams’ free-kick towards goal in the 61^st minute.

Kingstonian grabbed their third goal four minutes later when Traynor pounced to score his 20^th goal of the season.

Collins whipped in a cross from the left and this was met by a powerful downward header from Huckle and this produced a fine block from Knight, but the ball dropped to Traynor, who stabbed the ball past the goalkeeper at the near post.

After being played in behind the Cray defence, Wilson-Denis dinked a shot past the right-hand post but the striker scored his brace with ten minutes left.

Latching onto a delightful through ball from Collins, the striker chipped the ball over the advancing Knight and found the back of the net, in off the underside of the crossbar, to the delight of the visiting supporters who made up the Kent club’s largest crowd of the season here at Hayes Lane.

Traynor was then denied his 21^st of the season, latching onto a ball over the top of the Cray defence, only to be thwarted by the advancing Knight in a one-on-one situation.

Bremner made the scoreline a bit more respectable inside the final two minutes, heading past Garrard to find the bottom right-hand corner following a cross towards the far post from the left.

Despite the defeat, Francis was pleased with his side’s performance.

“When you look at the game you tell me whether you felt we deserved to be two-nil down?,” asked Francis.

“I thought we shifted them and passed the ball really well first half. It’s the brightest we’ve looked for three weeks and I think we should have come in level.”

Whilst Wilson-Denis’ tenth goal of the season came via the crossbar, Francis was cursing his side’s luck when Whitnell’s fierce drive crashed against the same woodwork. Had that gone in, Cray would have been level going in at the break.

“That was a key moment in the game,” bemoaned Francis. “To come in level, that time of scoring, I think it might have given us a bit of a lift.”

Speaking about the second half, Francis added: “I thought they got amongst us for the first twenty minutes but we said to the boys at half-time ‘don’t be impatient, stay in the game, be tight’ because if it’s the 80^th minute and we’re still 2-1 down, we’re still in it and I thought we’d score again.”

Cray Wanderers slip down one position to third in the table as Metropolitan Police moved to within three points of their Surrey rivals with a win at Whyteleafe.

Cray Wanderers, Ashford Town and Sittingbourne occupy the other play-off places and it’s going to be an exciting second half of the season.

And Francis added: “We’ve said to the boys afterwards that if you can’t take anything out of a result, you take something out of the performance.”

Cray Wanderers: Glen Knight, Aaron Day (Richmond Kissi 87), Colin Luckett, Danny Chapman, Mark Willy, Steve Aris, Tommy Whitnell, Jamie Kempster, Scott Kinch, Leigh Bremner, Jamie Wood (Tyrone Sterling 73).
Subs: Tony Dolby, Sean Beveney, Jamal McCann.

Goals: Colin Luckett 43 (pen), Leigh Bremner 88

Booked: Danny Chapman 61, Scott Kinch 63, Colin Luckett 69, Glen Knight 71

Kingstonian: Luke Garrard, Jamie Beer, Jon Coke, Adam Thompson, Wayne Finnie, Simon Huckle, Anthony Joseph (Neil Lampton 36), Liam Collins, Bobby Traynor, Carl Wilson-Denis (Max Hustwick 90), Tommy Williams.
Subs: Jason Turley, Nick Rundell, Adrian Blake.

Goals: Simon Huckle 7, Carl Wilson-Denis 22, 80, Bobby Traynor 65

Booked: Adam Thompson 40, Wayne Finnie 43

Attendance: 319
Referee: Mr Darren Blunden (Dartford)
Assistants: Mr Adam Bakalarz (Bromley) & Mr John Barnard (Erith)