Cray Wanderers V Dartford

Report

Dartford’s hopes of securing the Isthmian Premier League title suffered a blow at Flamingo Park, after a rallying Cray Wanderers side held on to earn a share of the spoils in front of 2,088 supporters on Bank Holiday Monday.

Both sides put on a lively display from the off, with both exploring openings to score. The Darts came close via Olly Box (3) and Callum Jones (5), but Wands’ goalkeeper Shaun Rowley was alert to deny the duo.

Meanwhile, Wanderers duo Darion Dowrich and Lateef Adaja were a constant threat on the left-flank. The former tried his luck with a low drive after nine minutes, but Jacob Marsden was on hand to save comfortably.

Dowrich was at it again when he created space to release Joshua Williams, but Marsden was alert once again to smother the danger (15), before the hosts fired wide of his upright three minutes later.

Ady Pennock’s side began to assert their authority soon afterwards, and began to knock on the Cray door. Louis Dunne saw his effort blocked on the line (21), before Denzelle Olopade’s drive was palmed away by Rowley (29).

The visitors finally edged ahead when the Wands failed to deal with Sam Odaudu’s long throw, which enabled Callum Jones to stab the ball home to score his fifteenth goal of the season (31).

The goal was just what Tim O’Shea’s Wands needed because, they began to throw men forward in a bid to equalise. And the hosts were rewarded by a soft penalty handed out by referee, Mr Steven Goldup shortly after Marsden had pulled off an excellent save during a goal-mouth frenzy. Frankie Raymond stepped up shortly afterwards to draw the hosts level (39).

And they should have taken the lead before the break, when Marsden pulled off a fabulous save to thwart the excellent Lateef Adaja. Then ex-Dartford hero Tom Bonner came agonisingly close with a header from the resulting corner, only to watch it curl high and wide of the post (43).

Michael Olarewaju headed narrowly wide from a Dartford corner after the restart (48), before the hosts turned the game on its head via Adaja, who was on hand to score after Marsden’s initial save (50).

However, the visitors responded immediately and, when a long ball from the right-flank was put back into the danger area, Denzelle Olopade was on hand to fire home the leveller (56).

Dartford boss Ady Pennock made his first change in personnel after 64 minutes, when he replaced Louis Dunne with Samir Carruthers. That was followed by Eddie Dsane coming on for Olly Box (67), before Hayden Bullas made way for Jeremiah Pinder (89).

Meanwhile, the hosts only made the one substitution this afternoon, with Victor Damyanov coming on to replace Ezechukwu Ebuzoeme after 72 minutes.

Returning to the action, we find the Darts searching for the vital winner. Eddie Dsane fired straight into the relieved arms of Shaun Rowley (77), before the striker fired narrowly wide five minutes later.

However, any hopes of securing the victory were all but dashed when Mr Steven Goldup showed Michael Olarewaju two yellow cards and his marching orders in a bizarre set of circumstances following a seemingly harmless challenge (82).

Yet despite the numerical disadvantage, Dartford kept throwing men forward and only the crossbar kept Dsane’s effort out after brilliant work by Jones (90).

The Dartford number seven then saw another effort headed off the line, before the ball smacked the Wands’ crossbar twice in quick succession during additional time!

The result, together with other results in the league, means that the Darts drop down to third place in the Isthmian Premier League table, equal on points with Billericay Town and Horsham, but with a lesser goal-difference. There’s still everything to play for against Carshalton Athletic next Saturday, and anything can happen in the beautiful game.

TEAMS

CRAY WANDERERS: Shaun Rowley, Ike Orji, Darion Dowrich, Quade Taylor, Tom Bonner (c), Ezechukwu Ebuzoeme II, Lateef Adaja, Frankie Raymond, Soul Kader, Joshua Williams, Nyren Clunis.
SUBSTITUTES: Thomas Borders, Kevin Kardel, Victor Damyanov, George Brooke, Freddie Warwick.

DARTFORD: Jacob Marsden, Sam Odaudu, Michael Olarewaju, George Whitefield, Josh Hill (c), Samuel Okoye, Hayden Bullas, Denzelle Olopade, Louis Dunne, Olly Box, Callum Jones.
SUBSTITUTES: Samir Carruthers, Tyler Christian-Law, Eddie Dsane, Jeremiah Pinder, Jack West-Astuti.