It's good to be in a position to offer Crystal Palace a game, says Wands assistant Joe Francis

CRAY WANDERERS assistant manager Joe Francis says he is looking forward to the club’s biggest pre-season game of the summer when they welcome Crystal Palace to Hayes Lane on Wednesday night.



The visit of the Championship outfit will bring much-needed coffers into the Ryman Premier League club, who begin their new campaign away to Leiston on 18 August.

Leiston clinched the Ryman League Division One North title last season, while Ian Jenkins’ Wands finished in ninth-place in the league above for the second successive season.

The Wands have had a mixed pre-season campaign so far.

They started with a 3-2 away defeat to their Kent League neighbours Beckenham Town, before scraping to a 1-0 win at Kent Invicta League side Seven Acre & Sidcup.

A 5-1 win at last season’s Kent League runners-up, Erith & Belvedere followed, before they went down to a heavy 3-0 defeat to landlords Bromley, from the Conference South, to contest the annual Bert Durling Trophy between the two sides.

Cray Wanderers were held to a 2-2 draw by VCD Athletic at Oakwood last Tuesday and defeated Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 4-0 yesterday, courtesy of goals from Leigh Bremner, Laurent Hamici, Tamer Tuna (a striker formerly of Charlton Athletic, Bromley and Welling United, who finished last season at Kent League side Erith Town) and an own-goal.

Jenkins takes his side to Ryman League Division One South side Chipstead, who are managed by former Wands striker Mark Tompkins, on Tuesday night, before the flag-ship friendly against The Eagles at Hayes Lane 24 hours later.

Francis said the game has been arranged because chairman Gary Hillman is an associated director at Selhurst Park.

He said: “It’s our chairman’s club. He’s a Crystal Palace nut, so it’s good for Gary and it’s nice to be in a position to offer them a game.

“It will be a nice test for us.  Players look forward to those sort of games for obvious reasons so we’re looking forward to it.

“It will be a good test of a different nature.  They’ll move the ball quickly, they’ll play with lots of purpose, pace and it will be a real test for us to keep that discipline and shape.”

Francis added: “We’ll work on organisational things now all over the park.  Little partnerships and we’ll be ready.”

The Wands face a tough opening week of the season with their trip to Leiston, followed by their first home game against last season’s Ryman League Division One South champions, Whitehawk, who have a reputation for being big-spenders.

“I don’t know knowing about them.  Obviously we’ll show them the utmost respect because they’ve gone up from the league below and we’ll concentrate on what we do.”

When asked what the club’s aspirations for the season ahead are, Francis replied, “To finish as high as possible. “

Admission prices against Crystal Palace have been confirmed by the Kent club as £10 (adults) and £4 (concessions, senior citizens, under 16s and students with ID cards).

Season ticket holders of both clubs are entitled to free admission.

The Hayes Lane turnstiles will be open at 6pm.

Coverage:
www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering the game, with our normal match report and post-match reaction.

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.pitchero.com/clubs/craywands

Cray Wanderers  v  Crystal Palace
Pre-Season Friendly
Wednesday 1^st August 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF