Cray Wanderers continued their fine league form with a devastating attacking display against Shoreham at Hayes Lane.  The Wands made it 17 unbeaten in the league and remain in 2nd place in the Isthmian South and were in no mood to be charitable this Christmas as two goals in the opening quarter of an hour settled any nerves and Cray dominated from there on in to notch their second 7-0 win in the last few weeks. 

Cray took the lead in the 7th minute with their first real promising attack of note.  The goal was patiently set up by a run forward by Ben Mundele who found Michael Freiter who in turn swept the ball out to Brandon Scott down the right.  Scott played a short cross into Freiter on the edge of the six yard box who turned Odofin O’Niel to fire a shot into the top right hand corner of the net for his 7th goal of the season.

Shoreham though had a good chance to make it 1-1 two minutes later when a ball forward into the area found Steve Herbert who hit a low cross shot which was well blocked by Nick Blue and the loose ball fell to George Gaskin who fired the ball back into Blue’s arms.

Cray though scored a second goal in the 13th minute which again was well worked.  Nick Blue’s long kick forward found Scott down the right who took on Alfie Proto-Gates, exchanged passes with Mundele and then Freiter picking up the ball by the right touchline put over a cross to the far post where Aaron Rhule rose to head the ball towards goal and James Broadbent made a save but could only push the ball over the line and was adjudged to be a goal.

Cray dominated the rest of the half although they lost top scorer Michael Power to an early injury and Rhule was unlucky to see a great shot come back off the post.

A third goal was on the cards and it came three minutes before half time when substitute Freddie Parker found Rhule down the left who put the ball into the box which missed Freiter but was picked up by Parker who stabbed the ball into the net from five yards.

The second half was mostly one way traffic and Parker and Lea Dawson came close to scoring before Cray scored a fourth in the 49th minute which was superbly taken by Rhule after being found by Parker’s neat pass, took on Jack Whitmore and found space to clinically place the ball into the net from 8 yards.

Then in the 51st minute, Cray scored again after a quite superb cross down the left by Rhule into the heart of the penalty box found Parker who got to the ball in front of O’Niel to glance a header into the net.

Cray could have reached double figures as they hit the woodwork three times in the second half.  Mitchell Nelson hit the top of the crossbar from distance and Parker almost grabbed a hat-trick when he headed Scott’s cross on to the bar.  Finally Dawson crashed a shot against the crossbar from 25 yards.

A sixth goal was massively overdue and within two minutes of coming on as a substitute, Karl Dent playing his first game for six weeks showed his true class with a tremendous strike to make it 6-0.  Barney Williams put a cross in from the left which Rhule got a flick on to but the ball went across goal to Federico who set up Dent who from twelve yards fired in a great shot which hit the back of the net.

The last word of the game though fell to the captain, Dawson who deserved a goal for his drive and desire and it came in the 90th minute.  A patient build up saw the ball switch to the right to Mundele who found Federico whose first time cross was deflected goalwards by Elgar and Dawson up with the keeper headed the ball into the net to complete a remarkable afternoon for Cray.

The Wands are next in action on Saturday at Hayes Lane as they take on Faversham Town, 3pm kick off.

Cray Wanderers: Nick Blue, Ben Mundele, Barney Williams, Jay Leader, Mitchell Nelson, Lea Dawson (Capt.),  Zak Henry Michael Freiter (Karl Dent, 81), Michael Power (Freddie Parker, 19), Aaron Rhule, Brandon Scott (Jerome Federico, 69):  Subs:  Dean Carpenter, Marcus Evans.

Att:  146