Cray Wanderers v Hamlet (Isthmian League) New Year's Day 2025, 3pm ko.

[Pink Panther]

Comprehensive directions to this new venue from the host club's website:

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www.cray-wanderers.com

N.B. If walking from New Eltham station, be sure to follow the directions via Thaxted Road in order to cross the Sidcup by-pass by footbridge. There's no other convenient crossing point. Bus 321 from New Cross Gate via Lewisham (not mentioned in the linked directions) will drop you at Thaxted Road on Foots Cray Road. The area is a pub desert and New Year's Day is a dodgy one for pubs anyway, with many opening late or not at all. I wouldn't make a detour for anywhere without checking the pub's own social media (i.e. not Google) or contacting them directly.

 

[darryl]

The best and most convenient pub I can suggest, and the one I'm planning to go to, is The Park Tavern in Passey Place, off Eltham High Street - about 15 minutes' walk from Eltham station (as opposed to New Eltham), and open 12-8pm tomorrow. It's a cosy real-ale place. From there you can easily get the 233 or 321 from the high street (outside M&S) to Thaxted Road, or the 160, 162 or 314 to Fiveways (make sure you walk on the Premier Inn side of the road if you go that way, or don't miss the footbridge).

Trains to Eltham are running as normal tomorrow, so that includes the direct services from Victoria, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye and Nunhead. Sadly, the Rusty Bucket is closed, and it's not convenient for the Sidcup micropubs, though you could always hop in a cab/ get a 162 bus to the ace Cockpit micropub in Chislehurst (12-8pm) if you're really keen.

(An alternative: The Long Pond micropub in Westmount Road, about 15 minutes' walk from Eltham station, will be open 12-4pm tomorrow - from there it's another 10-15 mins walk uphill to the buses and it's a bit more fiddly.)

 

[Paula_G]

Well if nothing else the beers at Flamingo Park get good reviews on Untappd. It’s an interesting venue so even if the match isn’t the best at least you can enjoy a tipple.

 

[Trimmy]

We went not long ago for a Tuesday night game. Beers were decent, I would say you could do worse than just going there first - it's a weird place to get to without a car. There appears to be another bar behind the stand, we never ventured that far, it was cold. You'll be greeted with a "guess the time for the goals" board, and last time there was a meat raffle, people are friendly and it has a proper non-league vibe. Food available - oven chips and burgers, but hot and well run, with an outside bar next door too. From memory no cash. Not sure I'll make tomorrow, we had plans to walk (3.5miles - yes it is, stop arguing) but life happens.

 

[Paula_G]

Played there in pre season with Sutton United and that building was only partly renovated then. The dressing rooms are excellent but we had to clamber over an old sofa to get to the pitches behind to warm up which were rather overgrown. The outside stairs to what must have been the main function looked seriously dodgy too.

 

[Pink Panther]

I visited the Park Tavern at Eltham after last year's pre-season game at Cray Valley, which was about a 1 mile walk from their ground, and it was excellent for range and quality of cask beer on 6 handpumps. I also popped into the Rusty Bucket, which was OK, then walked on to the Long Pond on the far side of Eltham Station. I'm sure it didn't take more than 7 or 8 minutes to walk back to the station from there for my journey home, although I can't guarantee it's not a bit further. Those will be my options when we play Cray Valley in April.

The main clubhouse at the ground is the same building that served the National Dock Labour Board ground when it was my team's home ground in the old Saturday afternoon London Banks League in 1985-86. I haven't been back since then, so I'll be interested to see what it's like. (It was a big upgrade on our previous ground, which was next to a sewage works at Beckton!) There used to be 4 pitches on one side and another 2 on the other, so the building had changing facilities for up to 12 teams and a large upstairs dining hall where each team was served a sit down meal and jugs of beer. In the days when the big 4 banks (Barclays, Lloyds, Midland, NatWest) all had their own sports grounds and other major employers were happy to spend money on leisure activities for their staff.

 

[KPMG]

Nyren, Quade and Frankie to score?

 

[Pink Panther]

Today's team:

 

[lwrs79]

Who’s bareck??

 

[the pink one]

half time 0-0

 

[Pink Panther]

Not much in it, a couple of half chances to test the keeper at each end with Wanadio predictably offering our greatest threat. Conditions are terrible with torrential rain since kick-off, so useful to have a 3G pitch for once.

 

[nunhead dweller]

Well done for braving the weather!

 

[lwrs79]

1-0 down… surprise surprise an ex-player Frankie Raymond

 

[the pink one]

1-0

 

[Paula_G]

 

[the pink one]

the usual 5 minutes for Lorenzo

 

[AveryDave]

No need to panic - we’re only nine points off the playoffs

 

[the pink one]

Nyren, Quade and Frankie to score?

As meatloaf sang one out of three Ain't Bad

 

[nunhead dweller]

No need to panic - we’re only nine points off the playoffs

Playoffs seem miles away. More worryingly we're six off bottom three and all teams below us have 1 or 2 games in hand....

 

[Paula_G]

Couldnt do worse than get El Presidente to lace up his boots again.

 

[FHW]

We enjoyed the first half. Wasn't particularly amazing but there were some nice touches from Hand and Bareck looked useful in the middle. Second half was abysmal. Dulwich created absolutely nothing apart from a couple of very wayward strikes from Wanadio. It was only a matter of time until Cray scores and of course it was Raymond who then seemed to really enjoy his celebration. The closest we got to a goal was hitting the post from a free kick which was the final kick of the match.

 

[Multigums]

We edged first half and Luke might have scored but second half was one way traffic. You always have a sniff at only one down sadly the last minute free kick off the post just about completed the day out for us soaking folk. Confidence very low

 

[Pink Panther]

That second half was a big disappointment. Cray stepped up a gear right from the start and we came under continual pressure while rarely threatening at the right end. Barnes pulled off several crucial saves, but the departure of Ross Marshall with 20 minutes to go probably sealed our fate. He was immense at the centre of a back three, with Kresh having to drop in to replace him and SBJ coming off the bench into midfield.

I don't recall Frankie Raymond, one of the biggest disappointments of the relegation season, ever scoring for us in open play, although he's always had a great left foot. There was no obvious threat as he received the ball inside the left corner of the box, but he threw off his markers with an instant turn and fired low inside the far post. You have to admit they deserved the points, and it would have been a robbery if Max Hudson's free kick had gone in instead of rebounding from the post from literally the last kick of the match.

A word for the referee, who barely blew his whistle throughout and ensured the minimum amount of delays occurred, whilst being totally consistent throughout.

 

[Bugpowder Dust]

Don't have much to add to other reports.
Cray have a decent set up and watching the first half on the balcony with a good view, a few songs, and a nice pint almost made up for the pouring rain.

Second half we were woeful, I don't know why Hak took so long to change it as we were producing nothing in terms of chances.

I don't think we'll go down but a bottom half finish seems assured now.

 

[Don't Slow Down]

We really are at a crossroads.

Either bin the manager now and hope a new one can inject something into this squad or tread water until the end of the season and bin him then.

I really don't think he is the future, whether there has been injuries or not.........

 

[Multigums]

Not sure publishing the injury list pre - match is best idea for team morale

 

[Pink Panther]

We really are at a crossroads.

Either bin the manager now and hope a new one can inject something into this squad or tread water until the end of the season and bin him then.

I really don't think he is the future, whether there has been injuries or not.........

I have to say I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe Hak can make us a consistent top 5 side in this division, as Gavin Rose did when we were last here. I think Hak might actually have done better if he'd kept us in National South, as I think his style of football is probably better suited to that level. It seems incredible that he built such a successful and effective team at Maidstone to win that division by 6 points only 3 seasons ago, whereas Gavin hit a glass ceiling in National South, and I'm not sure he ever really came to terms with having to abandon the pretty stuff for a more pragmatic approach.

Saturday's home game against bottom side Bognor (who lost 4-1 at home to Chichester today) has a "must win" feel about it, but they'll be looking at our miserable form and thinking it's an ideal opportunity to spark a revival of their own. That's followed by another home game with big spending Folkestone, then a visit to Billericay, who seem to have recovered from an indifferent period and are close to reeling in leaders Dover.

 

[AveryDave]

If last season was about stabilisation, this season was Hayrettin’s opportunity to put his own squad together to play the game he wants to play, and which he tells us works.

It hasn’t - any chance of success this season is gone, there’s now a real risk of getting sucked into the relegation fight, which will happen if current form continues.

Too many of the players he’s brought in haven’t come up to standard - injuries may have impeded some, but the majority haven’t improved us compared to last year.

His recruitment is poor, his tactics are rigid, stale and easily countered, and he seems happy to blame everything but himself for those failings.

It’s hard to see any positive route forward from here.

 

[Al Cunningham]

The time is right for a change. There is a chance that Saturday might be called off anyway if the frost forecasts sre to be believed.

 

[the pink one]