Vines says district should be proud of Wands (From News Shopper)

Vines says district should be proud of Wands

6:17am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Cray By Jerry Dowlen

WANDS defender Joe Vines says the population of the Crays should be proud of the high-achieving Cray Wanderers team.

Vines, 30, played for the Wands as a youth and has recently returned to the club, making his 50th appearance in last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Wealdstone.

He said: "If the club had a bigger fan base, I'm sure word would get round the Crays and Orpington and Sidcup about the superb quality of football that the Cray team is playing, and the locals would come to watch."

Cray sit in fifth place in the Ryman Premier League, pushing for promotion into the Conference South which would be the highest level the club has ever played at in its long history.

The Wands believe that their crowd numbers are down because they are having to play their home matches at Bromley FC, in Hayes Lane.

Cray are hoping to return to the Crays in 2014 and will be applying to Bromley Council next month for planning consent to build a new stadium at Sandy Lane in St Pauls Cray.

And Vines thinks that 2014 could see the young Cray team really come into its own, if it stays together under the club's long-serving manager Ian Jenkins.

Vines said: "To go to Wealdstone and be clapped off the field by the notoriously hostile home crowd, speaks volumes about the superb passing football that our team plays.

"It's a joy to watch.

"We don't always get the results that we deserve, but apart from me and the older players like Mark Willy, Andy Walker and Leigh Bremner, this is a very young Cray team and it's improving all the time."

Cray are at home to Kingstonian on Saturday and Lowestoft Town on February 5, both at 3pm.