Cray Wanderers boss Tim O’Shea was left shaking his head last weekend as his side produced a performance in stunning second placed Aveley which highlighted how frustrating the Wands have been.

O’Shea has bemoaned a lack of being able to convert draws into wins throughout their Isthmian Premier campaign – the Wands have so far drawn sixteen of their thirty-seven games played to sit just seven points out of the play-off places going into the Easter weekend.

Last weekend at Aveley looked to be following the pattern as the home side levelled in the final ten minutes after the Wands had been two goals to the good, but this time Max Fiddes was on hand to win the game for O’Shea’s men.

“We’re still just about in the hunt, but truth is that our end goal now is to finish with a bigger points total than last season which would mean that we are moving in the right direction. We go into every game aiming to win the game and we are probably going to fall short, but you never know – we are giving every game a right good go.

“Last weekend at Aveley, prime example – the scoreline would suggest that it was a close game but in truth we could have been well in front by the break. Brett (Munyard, the Aveley boss) was just another manager to say to us that we are the best side who they’ve played this season! The compliments keep coming in…”

“We’ve been good this year at getting late goals for the draw or win, but it’s also our Achillies heel as we have drawn too many games to sucker punches in ninety plus minutes – Ramsgate springs to mind – it’s that sort of thing. It’s a characteristic of never saying die that the boys have got, and I am so proud of them for that!”

On Saturday, the Wands host fourth placed Billericay Town at Flamingo Park before travelling to the Artic Stadium on Monday for the “Cray derby” against Cray Valley. “It’s a very different Billericay from the one we beat at their place in August,” O’Shea admitted.

“The new boss has done an incredible job – they have won thirteen of their last fourteen which shows that they are a side that mean business and are the in-form side at the moment. But I’m sure that they will be thinking they are in for a tough time coming to us in front of what I hope will be a bumper Easter Saturday crowd – it should be a cracker!”

“On Monday we’re off to Cray Valley – Kev (Lisbie) has gone in there and had a couple of decent results recently which will give them confidence, and they play Friday at Ramsgate so have that extra recovery time, so that might play a factor. But let’s face it, any type of local derby serves up funny results especially when you’re fighting for survival.”

“The position that we are in we cannot look any further that Saturday and if we don’t get a positive result then you can say that our small, tiny play-off hopes will be no more!”