Ruthless Rocks head for the next round

Wands unable to weave some magic

Midweek was a choice between games, fearing rain and storms on Tuesday meant another trip to Kent on Wednesday evening for the second time to watch Cray Wanderers vs Bognor Regis at Hayes Lane, but the third time this season! Confused? Ok, here we go!

Less than four weeks ago the two sides met at the home of Bromley for an Isthmian League game, Wands squandering a two-goal lead for a share of the spoils.

Last weekend the sides met again this time in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round at Nyewood Lane where the Wands led twice but pegged back on both occasions to send the sides to a third meeting inside four weeks on Wednesday evening.

With both sides now seemingly knowing each other there was a possibility they would once again cancel each other out but with the tie being played to a conclusion no chance of course another draw was the end result.

The visitors flew out the traps quickest using the ball better although Wands were putting their bodies on the line in blocking anything coming into their area, half chances were the best either side could muster.

The first goal didn’t arrive until just before the half hour mark and it went to Bognor. A lovely through ball from Nathan Odonkonyero into the feet of Isaac Olaniyan saw the midfielder stroke the ball past Shaun Rowley for the opening strike.

Wands had a great chance to equalise five minutes later, the height of Jalen Jones though didn’t cause the problems it should have done as the tall centre half headed wide from Anthony Cook’s free kick.

Two minutes later and the Rocks had doubled their lead, Josh McCormick with a pretty much unchallenged run down the right-hand side and Nick Dembele with an easy tap in from a few yards out had the Wands with a lot to do across the second 45 to stay in this season’s FA Cup.

Bognor though put the tie beyond the reach of the home side just four minutes into the half, Odonkonyero scored his fourth goal against the same opponents already this season with a superb, curled effort beyond Rowley.

Wands made the game even more difficult for themselves just before the hours mark as Mitch Chapman received two yellow cards in the space of 30 seconds for a foul and seemingly dissent as he was about to be substituted causing a rethink on the Wands bench.

Despite Wands making their permitted three changes over a ten minute spell, they couldn’t get any kind of foothold on the game and it was two of the visitors substitutes to combine for a fourth Rocks goal, Brad Lethbridge storming away down the right-hand side and his ball into the Wands box was allowed to reach fellow sub Tom Chalaye at the far post for an easy tap in to complete a miserable night for the home side.

Despite opting for a different formation on the night from the weekend game, Neil Smith’s side didn’t quite look comfortable, and Bognor controlled the game for the most part, Toby Steward had very little to do in the Rocks goal throughout the game.

Bognor put in the kind of performance I was expecting of them since watching in pre-season at Littlehampton, league results so far have shown that they can’t seem to shake their inconsistency tag at the moment although I have no doubt that this is a very tough division for either themselves or anyone else to get out of this year.

A home tie against Hampton & Richmond from Step 3 awaits the Rocks in the next round, a good test coming up for them and one that at the time of writing is unconfirmed will definitely take place on Saturday 17th September due to the events of the latter part of this week.

Great to see Rob Shirley as always and a bit of chat about the fortunes of Barnet and Bromley so far this season, the full 90 minutes spent with Carshalton Athletic boss Steve McKimm, former Bees Head Coach Simon Bassey and Dorking Wanderers boss and owner Marc White, some top footballing people right there with some great insights you don’t normally get and some honest people to spend time with watching a game.