Cray’s Strength Tells

Cray Valley continued their amazing away record with their eleventh win on the road this season from precisely the same number of League games. And whilst Bridges put up a brave fight, the visitors always seemed to have that little extra physical strength.

Cray’s keeper Max Ovenden however was forced to be on the top of his game at times, and he was tested early on by a cracking Noel Leighton drive. But two minutes after that eleventh minute save, Cray opened the scoring when Matthew Vigor netted with a shot on the turn as the home defence failed to anticipate his actions.

Bridges were matching Cray in midfield, with Bryan Villavicencio looking back to the form of last season, and aimed to take advantage of the strong wind behind them. Billy Irving delivered a number of long throws and both Nabeel Ghannam and Kevin Rivera saw rugged defensive work keep out their close range efforts.

A tempting cross by Leighton was held by Ovenden as the second half started, but there was a scare for Bridges when Barney Williams’ cross shot almost crept in. A deep free kick by Brannon O’Neill finished with a Leighton header comfortably saved, and another O’Neill free kick ended with the ball in the net only for Irving to be clearly offside.

A swift counter attack by the visitors after 59 minutes ended with Calvin Ekpiteta doubling their advantage, but Naythan Bryson was not seriously tested after that and it needed a couple more good saves by Ovenden to keep a clean sheet.

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	1	Ramsgate	12	11	1	0	12	8	2	2	24	19	3	2	68	22	+46	60
	2	Cray Valley PM	12	6	6	0	11	11	0	0	23	17	6	0	56	17	+39	57
	3	Sittingbourne	13	9	1	3	11	6	5	0	24	15	6	3	56	21	+35	51
	4	Lancing	13	7	1	5	12	8	1	3	25	15	2	8	45	35	+10	47
	5	Sheppey United	13	7	3	3	12	4	4	4	25	11	7	7	48	35	+13	40
	6	Herne Bay	12	5	4	3	12	6	3	3	24	11	7	6	47	36	+11	40
	7	Chichester City	13	5	1	7	12	6	3	3	25	11	4	10	48	34	+14	37
	8	Three Bridges	12	7	2	3	12	4	2	6	24	11	4	9	58	49	+9	37
	9	Burgess Hill Town	11	5	3	3	12	3	5	4	23	8	8	7	38	37	+1	32
	10	Ashford United	13	7	0	6	11	3	2	6	24	10	2	12	36	45	-9	32
	11	Sevenoaks Town	12	4	5	3	12	4	1	7	24	8	6	10	39	38	+1	30
	12	Hythe Town	9	3	4	2	10	5	1	4	19	8	5	6	33	25	+8	29
	13	Horndean	10	6	0	4	12	2	4	6	22	8	4	10	36	39	-3	28
	14	Broadbridge Heath	12	3	5	4	12	3	2	7	24	6	7	11	36	41	-5	25
	15	Littlehampton Town	11	4	1	6	12	3	2	7	23	7	3	13	29	50	-21	24
	16	East Grinstead Town	11	2	3	6	13	5	0	8	24	7	3	14	31	54	-23	24
	17	Merstham	12	5	1	6	12	0	4	8	24	5	5	14	35	54	-19	20
	18	Phoenix Sports	12	3	2	7	13	2	2	9	25	5	4	16	29	67	-38	19
	19	Erith & Belvedere	12	3	1	8	13	2	3	8	25	5	4	16	15	54	-39	19
	20	Beckenham Town	12	2	3	7	11	1	1	9	23	3	4	16	28	58	-30	13