Fifty points will keep us up, predicts Francis

Thursday 21st January 2010

CRAY WANDERERS assistant manager Joe Francis says his club must win around half of their remaining league games to avoid relegation, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Hayes Lane based club have played the most (24) games of all the sides involved in the battle to avoid the drop from the Ryman Premier League, and have 18 league games left to save their bacon.

The Wands suffered a woeful 5-1 defeat at Canvey Island last weekend, although the side started the opening twenty minutes well, before conceding right on half-time before leaking four second half goals in Essex, before the on-loan Marcus Cassius grabbed a late consolation.

But Francis, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk following his club’s comfortable 3-0 home win over Whitstable Town to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday night, insists Hendon must be beaten on Saturday.

Cray Wanderers, who are presently fourth-from-bottom, will leapfrog over the north London club, with their seventh league win of the season.

“We’ve played more games than everybody else so it’s in our hands, but we’ve got to start to pick up points,” said Francis.

“We’ll have a good training session on Thursday night and we’ve said to the boys to start thinking about approaching the game Saturday.”

Cray were dominant against Ryman League Division One South strugglers Whitstable, and despite the returning Lewis Wood seeing a first half penalty saved by man-of-the-match Kevin Fewell, they recovered to seal a comfortable win.

A 56th minute own goal from Dan Dolton sent the Wands on their way, and after Gary Sayer collected his second yellow card in the 86th minute, Ross Lover and George Porter went on to score.

Francis knows the side must emulate that kind of display more often if they are to avoid tasting relegation in the club’s 150th anniversary - and the first campaign at this level.

“We could have had four or five in the first half and another three or four in the second and that’s what’s been not letting us down, but when you’re on top of games that are tight and you have chances, you must put them away as it takes pressure of the rest of the side and the momentum in games stays with you,” explained Francis.

“The key thing as you go up the levels is that you must be disciplined to create the chances and keep your shape but you must score your chances and not concede sloppy goals.”

The Wands are in a very precarious position and know that only second placed side Hastings United have played the same number of games as them.

Billericay Town, one place below, now have SIX games in hand over the Wands, and are only three points behind.

This is the time for Cray’s players to stand up and be counted and Francis recalled last season’s Ryman Premier League campaign when Margate finished fourth-from-bottom with 46 points last season, although the Thanet side were reprieved as Fisher Athletic (who finished rock bottom in the league above) went bust.

When asked how many points the club need to maintain their status, Francis replied, “You’ve got to look at the target of 50 points. Fifty points to be safe, because 46 points went down last year.

“You’ve got to get across that line but you can’t look at that, you’ve got to look at Saturday and you’ve got to put everything into Saturday.

“If you don’t put everything into every game, you come unstuck.”

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.craywands.co.uk

Cray Wanderers v Hendon

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 23rd January 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF