Cray were eliminated from the Kent Senior Cup but only after a titanic struggle with holders Dartford at Hayes Lane.

In a game that was a credit to the competition, the pace of the match was at its slowest breakneck and with barely a bad tackle in the game, the officials also were barely noticed as the game flowed.   The Wands took the lead half way through the first half and twice hit the woodwork afterwards before Dartford hit back in the second half with two well taken goals to book a trip to old rivals Welling United in the 2nd round.      

A much changed Cray side struggled to cope with their more experienced opponents in the opening fifteen minutes and Nick Blue denied Ellis Brown and Duane Ofori-Acheampong hit the crossbar with a header.  Cray though stuck at it and Ben Mundele pulled a shot just wide and forced a fine save from Bailey Vose.

It was Cray that broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute with a goal which again owed a lot to the pace of Edgar Morais who broke away down the right and put over a cross which found Danny Haynes whose close range shot was saved by Vose but following up Mundele tapped the ball over the line to score.

Cray were now looking the better balanced side and came close to scoring again five minutes later when a Prescott corner was headed wide by Jay Leader. 

Two minutes before half time though Dartford had a massive let off when Jey Siva played a tremendous ball through to Morais who ran on, took the ball past the keeper and seemingly had just to roll the ball in for a second goal but somehow the ball hit the post and bounced away and was cleared by Keaton Wood.

Cray were unlucky again just after half time when Brandon Scott made a bursting run down the left and turned Wood before squaring the ball to Haynes whose shot cannoned back off the underside of the crossbar and the follow up was steered wide by Mundele.

Shortly after, Siva played in Haynes again down the left and his curling effort fizzed just wide of the right post.

A Darts equaliser did seem likely though and it duly arrived in the 58th minute when Cray perhaps switched off at a Luke Wanadio corner kick, the ball came to Lee Noble who played the ball through to substitute Andy Pugh and the former Welling United man finished clinically from twelve yards.

With the thought of penalties looming, the Darts went in front in the 71st minute when Ronnie Vint’s fine pass found Ofori-Acheampong and the tall striker turned just inside the area and fired in a shot which seemed to rather creep into the net giving Blue no chance in goal.

Blue did well shortly after to block a shot from Wanadio but Cray were not finished themselves and Scott was starting to threaten down the left and put a ball across which no one could get on the end of and then took Prescott’s pass and drilled in a low cross shot which was blocked by Vose for a corner. 

With five minutes to go Cray saw an effort from another first team debutant, Joel Massamba saved fairly comfortably by Vose before Tom Bonner had the ball in the net from a corner but was disallowed for a push on Blue.

With four added minutes for stoppage time, there was still hope for Cray to take the game to penalties but despite some good pressure from the Wands, Dartford hung on and showed the mentality of champions to pull themselves through.

Cray:   Nick Blue, Ade Osifuwa (Brandon Scott, H/T), Timi Osidobu, Jay Leader (Capt.), Jai McKinlay, Lee Prescott, Sean Roberts (Jey Siva, 36), Max Williams, Edgar Morais, Danny Haynes (Joel Massamba, 80), Ben Mundele:  Subs:  Bradley Woods-Garness, Charlie Horbacki

Attendance:   148