Cray Wanderers 1 - 2 Worthing

Both teams went head to toe in an enthralling encounter from the start with little time to draw breath.  Worthing went in front after twelve minutes when Lloyd Dawes flick on was turned in to his own net by Lee Prescott.  The visitors then went ahead forty seconds after the restart through Zack Newton before Danny Haynes pulled a goal back setting up an exciting last half hour where chances came thick and fast.     

On a fine November autumn afternoon the scene was set up for a cracking contest and it didn’t disappointIn the fourth minute, a Ben Mundele cross found Danny Haynes whose initial effort was blocked.  Karl Dent kept the ball alive and laid the ball back to Lea Dawson whose goalbound header was blocked by Brannon O’Neill.

Worthing came close to scoring after ten minutes when from a left wing corner, O’Neill’s cross was met by Reis Stanislaus whose header was cleared off the line by Jey Siva.

That was a temporary reprieve though for Cray as two minutes later Worthing took the lead with rather a soft goal.  Another corner this time down the right was played into the box by O’Neill and Lloyd Dawes flicked the ball towards goal and was deflected into the net by Lee Prescott on the goal line.

Cray went back on the attack and Haynes was played in by Dent down the right byline and his near post cross-shot was parried by keeper Jack Fagan,   Seconds later, Brandon Scott was found by Haynes but pulled his shot wide of the left post. 

Both sides came closing to scoring with Sanislaus and Harvey Sparks for Worthing whilst for Dent saw a shot saved by Fagan who also saved from Scott’s near post shot.     

Cray got off to the worst possible start to the second half when with barely a minute gone Worthing went two-nil up.  O’Neill and Matt Boiling combined to set up Zack Newton who turned Jay Leader and teed up a shot which went across Blue and into the net from six yards.

In the 56th minute though, Cray pulled a goal back when Scott down the right laid the ball across to Haynes who seemed to half hit a shot which sped past Fagan to set up a grandstand last half hour.

The Wands were desperately unlucky in the 62nd minute when Scott was played in by Haynes inside the area and his shot was pushed round the post by Fagan.  From the corner, Leader glanced a header over.

Then Haynes was presented with three chances to level the scores but each time fired over from crosses from Scott.   

The game was going from end to end and Worthing almost snatched a third when Omar Bugeil hit a sweet strike from the edge of the area which was tipped over by Blue and then Dawes was also denied by a fine save from the Cray keeper..

Then in the 83rd minute, Mundele who had a superb game throughout, picked op the ball from Leader and ran down the left hand side, cut in and curled a shot wide the right post.

Cray kept on going till the end led by the pace of Mundele and Scott but couldn’t find a goal and it is Worthing that go through to Monday’s 3rd Qualifying Round draw.     

Cray:   Nick Blue, Ben Mundele, Jey Siva, Jay Leader, Paul Lorraine (Jai McKinlay, 9), Lea Dawson (Capt.), Lee Prescott (Ade Osifuwa, 70), Sean Roberts (Solomon Taiwo, 55), Danny Haynes, Karl Dent, Brandon Scott: Subs:  Dane Luchford, Timi Osidobu

Attendance:   164