Smith returns as Wands seek survival

Just a tad under five weeks remain for the non-league season to complete itself before the play-off’s get underway and extend the season. I consider myself lucky to have almost completed all the grounds, teams and managers I wanted to get to when the fixtures came out and with some help if you can call it that from postponements etc I won’t be too far away come the end of April.

My destination on Saturday afternoon took me back to Hayes Lane for the second time this season, the home of Bromley and Cray Wanderers. The last visit was back in November to see Cray beat then high-flying Horsham 3-0 under Danny Kedwell, but more importantly it was getting Neil Smith back out to the ground he spent 10 previous years at with landlords Bromley.

This time Smith was actually back in the home dug-out having been appointed as the new boss by Gary Hillman on Tuesday evening with a mad couple of days trying to get new players in before the Thursday deadline so lending my support was the least I could do.

You couldn’t have asked for a better day in the Kent/London sunshine to watch a game of football, the beginning and the latter end of the season make up for the cold winter nights and afternoons wrapped up to the nines.

With Wands precarious position in the table each game is almost a must win for the new boss and this afternoon was the first chance to get points on the board and start to reel in those above them.

The home side were the faster starters and early signs were showing it could be a fruitful afternoon for Wanderers as the visitors struggled to get a foothold in the game.

And it was to be Cray who opened the scoring on 18 minutes, a 25 yard Anthony Cook free kick took a deflection past the keeper for the first goal of the game, the shot looking like it was going to find the net even before the deflection.

The lead however wasn’t held for long, two minutes to be precise and the old adage of being at the most vulnerable when you score was bang on the money.

A break down the Kingstonian right hand side saw Teo Kurtaran cross into the box and the ball end up in the net off the unfortunate defender although claimed by striker Daniel Ajakaiye.

Just after the half hour mark the home side should have been back in front, Jedd Smith playing Cook in who went one on one with Julian Schwarzer but the ball beat both the keeper and the far post for the scores to stay level.

A further half chance did come Wands’ way on the stroke of half time, Sam Wood’s teasing cross from the left just evaded Chris Dickson and the sides went in level at the interval.

The visitors came out the stronger of the two sides starting the second half and created the early opportunities giving the home side a warning of what was to come and they were in front ten minutes later, a corner in from the Wands left hand side wasn’t cleared and being allowed time to compose himself Walter Figueira smashed the ball home.

Smith brought on Kyel Reid to add some much needed experience to the field and the ex-Charlton winger came very close to scoring an equaliser on 70 minutes, Schwarzer looked to have tipped his left footed shot over the bar but a goal kick was given.

Kingstonian were seemingly happy to defend their box and break on the counter as Cray tried hard to probe and break down their opponents and despite enjoying the majority of the final ten minutes in possession it wasn’t until stoppage time were they close to an equaliser.

Dickson had a shot blocked that was heading goalward and Schwarzer saved well from the follow up which was to be the final effort from the home side as they slid to a third home defeat.

A decent crowd of 306 on Non-League Day no doubt buoyed by the arrival of Smith at the club left a little deflated with time running out for the club to finish outside the slot destined for a play-off against a Step 4 outfit.

Talking to Smudger afterwards in his head the six games left would result in three wins, two draws and one defeat so now it’s five unbeaten to end the season! Having to play the bottom two clubs in those five games does give them a real chance to finish higher than third from bottom but without the ability to bring in any more players Smith is going to have to get the best out of the guys who played on Saturday plus a couple of extra’s returning to fitness.

It's great to see Smudge back in the game but testament to how hard it is to get back in once you’re out of it, it’s been a year since his dismissal from Bromley and whilst he was close to jobs in that period for one reason or another they didn’t come good for him.

Nice to see Sam Wright and Gary Hillman during and after the game, two good footballing men at the club who I hope see their club stay up and build again next season.

As always great to catch up with Chris Dickson, a favourite son of the Premier Non-League Podcast of which I am a part of, one more season left for him he tells me, let’s hope next year it’s at the right end of the table.