Cray Wanderers bring a mainly cup tie busy October to an end on Saturday as the Wands play their first league game since 10th October with a visit to the Brentwood Arena to face Brentwood Town. 

Kick off 3pm.

It felt a bit like Halloween came early on Tuesday night as Cray headed to Stanway Rovers for a rare league match but issues with a power outage meant an issue with floodlighting so the match was called off meaning another fixture rearrangement. 

With Cray advancing in the FA Cup to the 1st Round for the first time and through to the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy in the last couple of weeks it has been a whirlwind season and certainly one whatever happens for the record books.

However, at the end of the day it is the bread and butter of the league where often at the end of the season teams are judged and Cray will be just looking with a few games in hand on teams around them as the Wands have moved into the bottom four in 19th on twelve points but have played seven games fewer that Maldon & Tiptree in 18th who have fourteen points.  

Certainly any thoughts of thinking about Stockport will not be on the agenda and certainly wouldn’t have been at Stanway Rovers where a full strength side would have played and Cray have added experienced winger John Ufuah to the squad. 

It will certainly be a tough game against a Brentwood Town side who after a difficult start to the season have begun to move up the table and are 13th with fifteen points and have won their last two league games.  On Tuesday night, Brett Munyard’s side following up a fine win against Dartford beat Cheshunt 4-2 at home with goals from Nat Mardell, Alfie Cerulli, Andrew Freeman and Freddie Sears. Brentwood last season were playoff finalists only losing at Billericay after a great 2025-26 campaign where they finished fourth.

Munyard came to Brentwood Town from Aveley in September and moved Town off the bottom of the table after losing six straight league games in August-September. Brentwood also had a fine run in the FA Cup and defeated Concord Rangers after a replay, won at Aveley and an excellent televised win against Dagenham & Redbridge before bowing out at Eastleigh by the odd goal in five.  

At home Brentwood Town have beaten Burgess Hill Town (2-0), Maldon & Tiptree (5-1), Dartford (3-0) and Cheshunt (4-2). Their other games ended in defeat against Enfield Town (1-3) and Stanway Rovers (2-3). Away from home Town won at AFC Whyteleafe (2-1) but lost their other games at Dartford, Eastbourne Borough, Carshalton Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet and Chatham Town. In the FA Trophy, Brentwood exited in the 3rd Qualifying Round losing at home to Hashtag United on penalties after a 3-3 draw. Bradley Sach is top scorer with eight goals.

Cray can take heart for the last visit to the Brentwood Arena on 3rd January where Tim O’Shea’s side produced one of the great performances of the season and led four nil at half tiem with goals from Soul Kader (2), Alex Hernandez and Lateef Adaja to win 4-1 with Kymani Thomas netting a consolation for Brentwood.  The Essex side were 5-1 winners when the teams met at Flamingo Park in August 2025.  The sides met for years in the London Senior League in the 1950’s but in the Isthmian League era only met in the Isthmian North in the 2014-15 season where the teams drew 3-3 at Brentwood while Town won 3-2 at Hayes Lane in a season where Brentwood were promoted in the playoffs.

With Cray needing league points ahead of two cup tie weekends with the league game at home to Three Bridges (10th November) in-between this will be a stern test but one which the Wands can go into with confidence.

Adults £14, Concessions £10, Next Generation (17-18) £5, U17s free