Once again Cray Wanderers showed remarkable powers of recovery for the second straight league game to come back from 2-0 down late in the game to this time record an unlikely 3-2 victory against Chipstead at Hayes Lane.   

There was little indication of the late drama to come as Chipstead took the lead through prolific Raheem Sterling-Parker before the break and also hit the crossbar.  Cray played better in the second half but fell further behind to a controversial breakaway goal from Sterling-Parker.  With eight minutes to go, Cray still trailed but two minutes had levelled the scores through Dane Luchford’s first goal for the Wands and then through Danny Haynes strike before captain Lea Dawson grabbed a 90th minute winner.

Chipstead were the better side in a rather lacklustre first half with Raheem Sterling-Parker twice coming close to scoring.  For Cray the best opening fell to Lea Dawson in the fifteenth minute but his shot on goal lacked power and was fielded by former Cray goalkeeper, Luke Colquhoun.

The visitors took the lead in the 43rd minute when a ball into the penalty area led to a defensive mix up and Rob Hastings nipped in to tee up Sterling-Parker for a simple finish.  Before the break, Chipstead saw a free kick from Callum MacLean come back off the crossbar.

Cray played a lot better in the second half and Colquhoun did well to twice deny Danny Haynes but it was Chipstead who increased their lead in the 64th minute.  Sterling-Parker appeared to push Jai McKinlay on the halfway line but burst through on a one on one and coolly slotted in to the net to score.

Cray came back and Karl Dent twice came close before the Wands pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute.  A left wing corner from Siva was deflected into the path of Luchford who showed a poachers instinct to score from close range.

Two minutes later it was 2-2 when the blistering pace of Brandon Scott down the right took him npast a defender and played an accurate pass into the path of Haynes who swept home a crisp low shot past Colquhoun.

Cray now had the bit between their teeth and came close to taking the lead when Scott saw his fierce shot deflected onto the post and was cleared.

That was only a temporary reprieve as in the 90th minute, Sol Taiwo found Dawson who burst into the box and placed a shot wide of the keeper to pull off a tremendous comeback.  Cray remain seventh in the Isthmian League South table, two points behind fifth placed Hythe Town.  

Cray are next in action on Wednesday night when Horsham are the visitors. If that game is as dramatic as this one it will have to be some game.    

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Cray:   Nick Blue, Ben Mundele (Ade Osifuwa, 18), Jey Siva, Jay Leader, Jai McKinlay (Sean Roberts, 68), Lea Dawson (Capt.), Solomon Taiwo, Lee Prescott (Dane Luchford, 53), Danny Haynes, Karl Dent, Brandon Scott: Subs:  Timi Osidobu, Sean Law

Attendance:   97