Wednesday 28th October 2020 – The second week of half term means that Mikey can join my Dad and myself for a midweek game at Hayes Lane, where Cray Wanderers take on Merstham in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
Covid-19 rules mean that I can’t go into my parents house, but I can go to football with my Dad as long as he sits in the back of the car, I mask up and we sit 1 metre plus away in the stand!
Mikey is excited about going to a night game, he’s already picked up that there is something special about a game under the floodlights. We arrive at the ground just after 7pm and I find one of the few parking spaces left, the whole area is bathed in the artificial light from the ground. You can feel a buzz and hear the music from the PA, the chatter of fans and the thumping of footballs being kicked about in the warm up.
We see Peter on the turnstile, (his family have been involved with Cray for decades), we say hello to Sam a former plater and now CEO, buy Golden Goals tickets from Steve and get a programme from Phil. We have a quick chat with all of them mostly about the disappointing FA Cup exit at Canvey Island the previous Saturday. There are hand sanitiser stations dotted around the ground and plenty of signs.
A quick hello to Mark and I pick up a team sheet to help with my match report for KSN and say Hi to Adrian the kit man. I nod and wave to Ally the physio, then Tony, Joe & Nathan the management team, normally we would exchange handshakes, but in this Covid era that’s not allowed. Mikey would usually stand by the tunnel and high five the players as they head in for the final team talk, but he can’t do that either. We are not allowed in the main stand, which is set aside for officials, so we head to the new Glyn Beverly stand behind the goal to find our seats.
We settle in and find a good vantage point, more than 2metres away from everyone else, but close enough to say hello to the familiar faces there. Mikey wants some chips, amazing seeing he just had a massive bowl of pasta at home, but I won’t say no. I head over to the Pizza Hatch and pick them up to Stuart who had worked on the catering side at Hayes Lane for well over ten years. He did a fantastic job for my wedding reception there is 2008, which was in the brand new facility at the back of the main stand. I have a quick catch up with Gary the Cray Wands owner, who brought Cray to Hayes Lane to groundshare with Bromley in 1998 and after a lot of knock backs has finally secured his club a new stadium at Flamingo Park on the A20, which should be ready in a couple of years.
The game gets underway and Cray mean business from the off, clearly stung by the cup exit and manager Tony Russell’s criticism of the performances and lack of clean sheets. Merstham are struggling at the foot of the table and they look visibly rattled by the intensity of The Wands attack. It’s 2-0 after nine minutes, Ben Mundele and Bradley Pritchard on the score sheet. Jay Leader heads a third from a corner after half and hour. The visiting supporters near us take it all in good heart, there’s no anger, finger pointing or waving of arms, there is just genuine encouragement for their young side.
The second half is pretty much the same, Rhys Murrell-Williamson scores once and top scorer Joe Taylor adds two more to his impressive tally to make it 6-0. Merstham bring on a familiar face up front in Barry Hayles, the former Millwall, Bristol Rovers and Fulham striker. He is now well in his 40s, but clearly loves playing the game still, for some reason the Ref seems to take an instant dislike to him ad calls him up for fouls every time he challenges for a ball, even the Cray players look surprised at some of the decisions. Although his introduction did provide some spark up front, The Wands hold on to their clean sheet and secure a comfortable three points with a stylish display. The win takes them up to fifth in the table with 15 points from 7 games, well placed for a promotion push.
We clap the players off and head for the exit, little did we know at the time that there would be no more Cray Wanderers games for us to watch this year. The Wands won 3-0 at Whitehawk in the FA Trophy the following Saturday and then came the second lockdown, followed by a Tier system that would see the Isthmian League programme halted until January 2021 at least.
All the hard work of the people at the club seemingly for nothing for a second season in a row. This one seems harder to take. Teams in the league above carry on playing with money given to subsidise their loss of income, as the game a level lower is left to try and survive on nothing.
My Dad has been supporting Cray Wands since he was ten, it's a very special club, his Dad also was a supporter before him. Myself & Mikey are happy to carry it on into a third and fourth generation. I just hope The Wands survive this and make it beyond the 160 years they have already clocked up, making then London’s oldest football club.
Col.
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