Cray made it four league wins in a row with a tremendous victory against a very decent Carshalton Athletic side at Hayes Lane.

The two teams had met in an excellent FA Trophy tie just six days before and after an intriguing if slightly cagey first half, the Wands took the lead on the stroke of half time and the game exploded into life with four goals in the space of fifteen minutes after the break.

Both goalkeepers did well to make good saves in the opening twenty five minutes with Mickel Miller testing Nick Blue with a fizzing drive whilst Danny Haynes was denied by a fine instinctive save from Alexandros Koziakis.

Cray took the lead in the 45th minute when a Jey Siva corner to the back post was met by Paul Lorraine whose header found Haynes whose initial effort was blocked but he picked the ball up, turned and found space just outside the penalty area and placed a shot past Kozakis’ despairing dive.

The Wands went two up with a cracking strike from Haynes who received the ball from Siva’s pass and from fully twenty five yards hit a sweet strike which gave Kozakis no chance in goal and was a breath taking goal of genuine class.

Moments later, in the 56th minute, Cray made it 3-0 with a great piece of finishing when Sean Roberts played in right back Ben Mundele who burst into the box and fired in a cross-shot which crashed into the back of the net.    

Carshalton though are a good side and Matthew Males hit a first time volley which forced Blue to make a fine save to block the shot. That warning wasn’t heeded as a minute later on the hour, Carshalton pulled a goal back when Ricky Karboa’s cross from the left found Miller who stole in to head home from six yards.

In the 62nd minute the scoring was completed when Karl Dent found Brandon Scott down the right who used his great speed to set up a chance for himself and he cracked an unstoppable low cross shot past Kozakis for his fourth goal of the season. 

The win moved Cray up into the playoff places into fifth place in the Isthmian League South and are at home again on Wednesday when Guernsey make their first ever visit to Hayes Lane.

Cray:   Nick Blue, Ben Mundele, Jey Siva, Jay Leader, Paul Lorraine, Lea Dawson (Capt.), Lee Prescott, Sean Roberts, Danny Haynes (Bradley Woods-Garness, 80), Karl Dent (Max Williams, 67), Brandon Scott (Timi Osidobu, 88): Subs: Jai McKinlay, Solomon Taiwo

Attendance:   218