Cray remain in third place in the Isthmian League North after a narrow but deserved victory against Witham Town at Hayes Lane.

The Wands are seven points clear of the fifth and sixth placed teams in the race for the promotion playoffs.

Witham started the game slightly the brighter but Leigh Bremner came close twice to giving Cray the lead in the opening quarter of an hour.

Cray went ahead in the 25th minute when Bremner showed good determination down the left and cut the ball back to James Duckworth whose shot was turned into the net by Michael Frieter from five yards out.

The second half saw Cray dominate the game but couldn’t quite manage to notch the second goal to give them comfort.  Twice Sean Roberts came close to scoring and Karl Dent and Duckworth fired narrowly wide. 

The closest the visitors came was from Nathan Korenteng who fired over the crossbar from just outside the area and John Watson’s shot went straight to keeper Nick Blue.

Duckworth tested Witham keeper Lewis Down with a low header and Ben Payne had a goal disallowed in the closing stages.

Cray next travel to second placed Thurrock on Easter Monday and the Wands go into the game in good heart and playing good football under pressure.  

Cray:   Blue, Tajbakhsh, Basey, Leader, Payne, Dawson (Capt.), Roberts, Dent, Bremner (Mascoll), Duckworth (Hunt), Frieter:  Subs:  Powell, McKinlay, Faulkner

Att:      118