Hayes Lane Saturday, February 5th, 2011   Isthmian Premier Division Attendance: 269         Cray Wanderers 0-2 Sutton United
2010 /11

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Cray Wanderers 0-2 Sutton United Dundas 70 Woods-Garness 84 5 February 2011 Ryman League Premier Division Attendance 269 Referee Michael Webb (Woking) Lineup 1 Kevin Scriven 2 Simon Downer 3 Darren Ebsworth 4 Karl Murray 5 Karim El-Salahi 6 Sam Page 7 Tom Kavanagh 67 Woods-Garness 8 Tom Davis 9 Craig Dundas 10 Andy Forbes 76 Adjei 11 Leroy Griffiths 12 Kennedy Adjei 14 Fola Orilonishe 15 Bradley Woods-Garness 16 Steve McKimm 17 Wayne Shaw Sutton began what could be a pivotal month in their Ryman League championship quest in fine fashion on Saturday as they overcame the blustery conditions to record a well deserved win at Hayes Lane and then heard that closest rivals Bury and Lowestoft had both dropped points in their pursuit at the top of the table, leaving U’s five points clear. A lot of the hard work at Hayes Lane was done in the first half as U’s played in to the wind and restricted the home side to just one clear sight of goal, and they built on that effort after the break, dominating long periods with the wind behind them and scoring twice in the last twenty minutes to secure the points. U’s gave a debut to new signing Leroy Griffiths in an attacking left sided position and given the conditions he showed enough moments of quality to suggest that he has a big role to play in the next three months, and would have been instrumental in U’s holding a half time lead had Tom Davis shown more composure with their best chance of the first period. An initial source of optimism for U’s was a shaky start from home goalkeeper Dave King, who spilled a low Craig Dundas cross and was fortunate that the follow-up effort from Andy Forbes was blocked, and then needed two attempts to save a powerful volley from Karl Murray after Tommy Kavanagh:s free kick had rebounded off the Cray wall. Soon afterwards, though, Cray had what was to prove their best chance of the game when a neat pass from skipper Ross Lover saw Chris Saunders beat the offside trap but his shot was too high to worry Kevin Scriven. With both sides struggling to settle in the wind and on a slippery surface, and with referee Michael Webb’s whistle heard rather too often there was little flow to the game, but just after the half hour mark a flick from Forbes released Griffiths on the left, and he cut in past a defender before chipping the ball across the face of goal. Davis, coming in at full speed but with time to control the ball, instead went for a first time volley from fifteen yards which cleared both the bar and the roof of the terrace. U’s had another sight of goal just before the interval when a pass from Davis sent Forbes through, but his attempt to chip the oncoming King lacked sufficient height and the keeper made a comfortable save. It was probably only when they went to stand on the terrace at the Bromley end of the ground for the second half that the U’s supporters appreciated the strength of the wind and what a good effort their team had put in to keep the score level, and apart from an early scare when Leigh Bremner was unable to get his foot round a low left wing cross from Laurent Hamici, it was pretty much one way traffic as U’s enjoyed a superiority that Cray had never achieved in the first half. All that was needed now was to capitalise with a goal, and it was beginning to look as though it might be a frustrating time when Dundas battled down the right and crossed low, only for Davis to see his shot blocked by a diving defender, with Davis and those with a good view of the incident screaming for a handball which was waved away by Mr Webb. The introduction of Bradley Woods-Garness for Kavanagh left little doubt as to U’s search for the breakthough, and within three minutes of the change it had come with a goal as untidy as much of the game had been, but no less important for that fact. Darren Ebsworth’s corner was flicked on to beyond the far post, Sam Page stabbed it back in to the goalmouth and Dundas lunged in among the bodies to nudge the ball over the line, ending up in the net himself before being submerged by jubilant team-mates. Three minutes later U’s should have had a second when a Woods-Garness free kick was half blocked by the Cray wall, but fell nicely for Forbes, whose finish was uncharacteristically wild as he volleyed over from just ten yards out. Eventually it was the persistence of Woods-Garness that finally killed the game off, allied to some poor defending from Tyrone Sterling, whose appearance at centre back will have surprised those who have seen him marauding up and down the left wing in previous encounters. Trying to shepherd the ball out for a throw-in under pressure from Woods-Garness but realising that it wasn’t going to cross the line, Sterling tried to play a pass back to King but left it much too short and allowed Woods-Garness to reach the ball first, guide it round the stranded keeper and roll it in to the empty net. It might have been an even more convincing scoreline as King made a good late save from Dundas after Griffiths had set up the chance, and the reaction of U’s players and management at the final whistle underlined how important a three points this was. Cray: D King, A McLeod, A Bentley, A Day, T Sterling, T Dolby, R Lover, L Bremner, L Hamici, D Phillips, C Saunders (sub C Gibbs 79) . Subs n/u S Lozano, J Clarke, A Cotterill, E Masade. Booked: Day (23-foul), Bentley(44-foul), Phillips(90-persistent infringement).