Cray Wanderers assistant manger Joe Vines says nothings ever won at Christmas!

CRAY WANDERERS assistant manager Joe Vines says 10 points over Christmas will be very good.

The Wands made seven changes to their side as they crashed to a 5-1 home defeat to Charlton Athletic in the Kent Reliance Senior Cup Quarter-Finals at Hayes Lane last night.

Cray Wanderers came away from Whyteleafe with a 2-0 win last weekend and as a result they are in second-place in the Bostik South table with 47 points in the bag from their 22 games.

Tony Russell’s side are one point behind leaders Lewes and with a game in hand, but they go into a gruelling Christmas campaign.

They travel to fourth-from-bottom side Molesey on Saturday, before bottom-of-the-table side Shoreham visit Hayes Lane on Tuesday 26 December.

Cray Wanderers then host seventeenth-placed Faversham Town on Saturday 30 December, before making the short trip to Eltham to play fellow promotion chasers Greenwich Borough on Monday 1 January 2018.  All of these games kick-off at 15:00.

“In recent games we’ve been picking up points, Molesey is the next one away on a bit of a pig of a pitch so that will be interesting,” said Vines.

“I know it’s a bit of a cliché but we’re literally looking at a game at a time.  You have to so we get Molesye out of the way, then we’ll look at Shoreham, then we look at Faversham, who I think are a good side.  Mr Turner is a good man, he’s a real good man, he’s a thinker.  He made us really fight for a point last time so that will be interesting and Greenwich Borough.

“The games with every passing game, it gets more and more, I wouldn’t say pressure but the games are starting to get bigger and bigger as it progresses and it’s the reason why we’re involved in football because if we weren’t playing for something, it’s pointless.”

Vines, 36, added: “Nothing’s ever won at Christmas!  It’s that old adage isn’t it? Something could go wrong. We could have a spate of injuries, it could all fall to pieces.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve worked ourselves into a position because we had a lot of games in hand but we’ve picked those points up.  I’d rather have points on the board but we’ve got to be pleased with the way that we have performed and how professional we’ve been. It’s a long old way to go, a hell of a long way to go.”

When asked what he is targeting over these four games, Vines revealed he wants his side to remain unbeaten over the festive period.

He said: “If you’re realistic, we’ve got to be looking at 10 points however which way that was made up. That’s a good Christmas, I think, looking at the games and looking at how we’ve been playing recently, I’d take that, I’d be very happy with that.”

Meanwhile, the club have now submitted a new planning application for consideration to the London Borough of Bromley Council, which has already received over 600 comments of support.

The revised scheme has been created through pre-application consultation with Bromley Council and the Greater London Authority.

The club are confident the scheme addresses the Mayor’s previous concerns whilst actually increasing the greenbelt space and openness of the site.

The new application includes:
* a reduction in previously developed land on the site
* a reduction in residential and commercial floor areas
* A reduction in height of buildings from four storeys to two
* An extra community football pitch
* More Green Belt openness

The new planning application has now been validated and is available to comment on line.  Cray Wanderers FC need to call on your support once more, please visit the website below to register your comments of support.

http://flamingoparkproject.com/