Cray Wanderers kick off the new season at AFC Hornchurch on Saturday (8/8/15) under the management of Tony Russell lloking to build on last season's tremendous final 10 game winning run which helped the club stave off a second straight relegation.  Tony with his assistant Ray Powell comes to the club from VCD Athletic where they had a very successful spell taking the club from the old Kent League to the Ryman Premier in two seasons.  

Cray Wanderers are also pleased to announce with pre-season now over that the club have re-signed amongst several new arrivals at the club, Wands legend, Leigh Bremner.  This is his third spell with Cray having arrived originally from Herne Bay and has played just over 300 games for the club scoring 127 goals.  Leigh comes back to Cray from VCD Athletic where he was a part of their Ryman Premier season and has also played for Dulwich Hamlet, Folkestone Invicta, Carshalton Athletic and AFC Hornchurch.  Leigh showed in pre-season he’s lost none of his sharpness and is still a force to be reckoned to be with.

Another playing re-signing for the club is left back, Helge Orome who was part of the Cray team which won its last ten games to avoid relegation and is a fine tackler and passer of the ball.

In the forward positions for Cray comes experienced centre-forward Andre McCollin who has scored close to 120 goals in his career that has seen him play league football for Yeovil Town and last season was playing for National League Aldershot Town.  Andre is a deadly finisher when presented with a chance and could be a handful for Ryman North defences this season.

Other signings the club have made during the close season include a number of other players who were part of VCD’s successful fight against relegation from the Ryman Premier last season.

They include, goalkeeper Nick Blue, the very experienced former Charlton Athletic player, Grant Basey as full back who has looked a class act pre-season.  In central defence comes Ben Payne who is a fine header of the ball and experienced Ryman League player, Nick Reeves. 

In midfield comes Dean Carpenter, Lea Dawson, Sean Roberrts, Karl Dent and James Duckworth.  Dawson is a ball winning midfielder with great experience as does Carpenter who is a great passer of the ball.   Dent has a great goalscoring record in five seasons at Oakwood from midfield whilst Duckworth also possess a good scoring record and can play in centre midfield or out wide where he has played most of the pre-season games.  Roberts completes the VCD connection in midfield.

Cray are also delighted to announce that two members of the successful Cray Wanderers Youth U21s side which won the NRG Gyms U21 Development League last season.  Midfield players, Jack Lodge and Reece Deakin look tremendous prospects for the future of the club and have a great telepathic passing understanding together. 

Three other players that have signed who have played some of pre-season include defender Adetayo Osifuwa, midfielder, Dane Moore and winger Malik Ouani.