We can turn things around, insists Aris

Wednesday 21st October 2009

CRAY WANDERERS are going through some soul-searching ahead of home game against Carshalton Athletic on Sunday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The beleaguered Wands are finding life tough in the Ryman Premier League and are in danger of suffering relegation at the end of the season if they don’t start picking up wins, especially at Hayes Lane.

Ian Jenkins’ men were dumped out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy last Sunday; substitute Tyrone Sterling smashing home a flattering goal during their embarrassing 2-1 home defeat to Ryman League Division One South side Burgess Hill Town, who stretched their unbeaten run to seven games.

Sadly, Cray Wanderers weren’t up for the fight, and defender Steve Aris demands better from his team-mates when Carshalton visit on Sunday.

Cray have picked up just one point on home soil this season, and the former Tonbridge Angels defender cannot put his finger on their poor home form.

“It’s been a complete change around,” Aris told www.kentishfootball.co.uk. “We got promoted last year based on our home form and home performance.

“I can’t say we’re getting nervous in front of our own fans, because there’s not that many here to get nervous in front off anyway, so it’s just a mind thing.

“At the end of the day the pitch is the same size, home or away, we’ve just got to compete. We can turn things around and pick up some decent results.

“We just need to work hard, keep together, and be positive,” he added. “I think we’ve noticed the last few games, the only way we get somewhere is to play football. We’re a footballing team, we can’t put things in corners and chase things. We need to start playing football again.

“Hard work is the start of it, hard work first and hopefully we’ll start playing.”

Assistant manager, Joe Francis warned that players face eviction from Hayes Lane if performances don’t improve.

Speaking about the long-serving management team of Jenkins and Francis, Aris said, “Obviously they’re running out of things to say. It’s just been so frustrating, they’ve done everything they can do for us.

“It’s just one game’s good, one game’s bad, it’s so inconsistent. I’ve tried different things. Let’s try and get back to basics. Everyone knows hard work gets you everywhere. It’s hard work first and we’ve got to try and play that way for us to go forward.”

Aris will take a win, no matter how it comes, against the Robbins on Sunday.

“To beat anyone would be a great way to kick start the season," he said. "We were hoping to do that (against Burgess Hill) but we move onto the next game. The next game is Carshalton so we’ve got to be positive when we start and hopefully when we get one it will roll on and we start picking up some more points to keep us in the division.”

When asked about the prospect of relegation, one thing was clear with Aris.

He said: "We're not thinking of it one little bit! "At the end of the day we’ve got a squad good enough to be in this league and we’ve got into this league by playing football and I think we’ve got the players here.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be providing LIVE COVERAGE of this game.

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

Cray Wanderers v Carshalton Athletic

Ryman Premier League

Sunday 25th October 2009

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF