Cray Wanderers advanced to the 1st Qualifying Round of The FA Trophy following a well-earned and hard fought victory against Carshalton Athletic at Hayes Lane on Wednesday.   Cray will now face Marlow in the 1st Qualifying Round this Saturday, 29th October with a 3pm kick off.

After an engaging but at times slightly cagey first half, the deadlock was broken just after the hour with Lee Prescott notching his first goal for the club with a free kick.  Danny Haynes later took his total of goals against the Robins this season to six with a brace in the last twenty minutes first from the spot and then with a diving header with two minutes to go.    

Cray started brightly but it was Carshalton who created the two best openings of the first half with Mickel Miller prominent.  First he took the ball round keeper Nick Blue and seemed certain to score but his goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Lea Dawson.  Then Miller was denied by Blue who parried away his shot.

For Cray, Karl Dent was unlucky with a shot that curled wide and Brandon Scott’s strike just cleared the crossbar.

The second half opened a bit more and it was Cray who went in front in the 62nd minute.  The Wands were awarded a free kick, twenty five yards from goal and Lee Prescott’s shot was on target and seemed to go under the body of keeper Alex Kozakis and into the net.

With twenty minutes to go, Cray went two up from the penalty spot when Danny Haynes was brought down in the area and he got up to calmly slot home the kick.

Carshalton were unlucky when Jonathan Tadafe’s strike came back off the crossbar and Blue had to be alert to deny Ricky Kaboa’s cross shot.

Cray completed the scoring in the 88th minute when Timi Osidobu’s cross was met by a diving header by Haynes and placed the ball into the net.

The Wands now get ready for a meeting with Marlow for a place in the 2nd Qualifying Round.

Cray:   Nick Blue, Ben Mundele (Ade Osifuwa, 64), Jey Siva, Jay Leader, Paul Lorraine, Lea Dawson (Capt.), Lee Prescott, Sean Roberts (Solomon Taiwo, 85), Danny Haynes, Karl Dent (Timi Osidobu, 78), Brandon Scott: Subs: Bradley Woods-Garness, Jai McKinlay

Attendance:   91