Cray Wanderers are on the first midweek travels of the season tonight after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hanwell Town means a visit to the Oliver Connell & Son Community Stadium in an FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round Replay.
The winners of the tie which will be decided on the night either by extra time or penalties will be at home to Bedfont Sports from the Isthmian South Central on 13th September.
The replay comes after what was a dramatic game at Flamingo Park on Saturday where Cray twice led, missed a penalty to make it 3-1 and then were pegged back with a leveller seven minutes from time.
The Wands got off to a great start with an 11 th minute header from Luke Allen for his first goal for the club and were able to see out the game with the lead until half time.
Hanwell, who play also at Step 3 in the Southern League Premier South produced a strong opening to the second half and levelled Bradley Clayton’s cross was turned in by Callum Woodcock.
Cray though went back on the attack and restored the lead through a Frankie Raymond penalty just after the hour. The Wands though did have a chance to put daylight between the teams with another penalty award in the 72nd minute but Raymond this time saw his kick go wide.
Hanwell keeper Sam Beasant made some fine saves especially to deny Josh Williams and then Addison Garnett cleared off the line. However, Hanwell showed their resilience once again to draw level with a clever turn and finish from Jordy Mongoy meant Chris Moore’s team showed character to earn the replay.
Cray will be looking to show similar resilience to advance to the 2nd Qualifying Round after having some defensive absences in the last fortnight but have shown doggedness in other games especially last season when missing players.
This will be a tough game but one which gives another chance for the Wands to lock horns with a Southern League side and a clash of styles.
Admission £13 adults (£12 online), £8 concessions (£7 online), £4 U18s (£3 concessions) https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/Dashboard
Pictures supplied by Ben Keyes.