It was a frustrating afternoon in Bromley for the Blues, who failed to turn their territorial dominance into points in the face of a stout Cray Wanderers defence.
It was a similar game to the 2-0 defeat away to Hashtag earlier in the season: chances for the away side, a tough battle in midfield, and ultimately decided by one or two moments of quality in the Wingate penalty area.
The moment of quality in this game was an overhead kick from striker Gary Lockyer from 10 yards out. He got onto a ball floated in from the Cray right, and managed to tuck the ball into Ben Goode’s left corner despite facing away from goal. It was a good finish, and at only 6 minutes into the game, allowed the hosts to sit on their lead and make life difficult for the Blues for the remaining 84.
That they did effectively, limiting the amount of chances they gave up. There wasn’t much to speak of in the first half, besides two half chances from Long and Carvalho, but the Blues had more success in the second.
Rhamar Garrett-Douglas found himself one on one from a tight angle after getting behind his man, but his attempt was well smothered by Rowley in the Cray goal. Similarly, Anointed Chukwu had another one on one chance, this time with the ball bouncing as it was played over the top of the defence. He attempted to lift the rising ball over the onrushing Rowley, but the keeper was again out quickly to smother the danger and keep his side in the lead.
He had less of a role to play in the game’s most controversial moment however. He was beaten by Ruben Carvalho’s attempt from 20 yards, as the ball went low and hard and through his legs to equalise, or so the Blues fans thoughts.
Despite not raising his flag, the linesman had apparently decided that an offside Wingate player had interfered with play. The protestations from the Cray players resulted in a conference between referee and linesman, with the verdict being delivered over a minute after the initial goal was given - offside. You feel that if the goal had stood, Wingate and Finchley would have gone on to win the game. But such was the referee’s decision, and the Blues were unable to turn their fortunes around in the second half.
It is too easy to consign this result to the annals of “one of those days”, as ultimately the team could not break down a well organised Cray defence. But their prospects were not helped by two penalty shouts that went against them. The first, and best, came as Alex Solomon attempted to attack a corner having got the better of his man. Or so he thought, as his man hauled him down in the box from behind before he could connect with the approaching corner. There are likely similar fouls in most set pieces that are not given, but such was the obvious nature of the foul - Alex had a clear path to the ball and no-one was within 3 yards of him - you feel the Blues had genuine cause on this occasion.
The second was as keeper Rowley came out to punch the ball. He made contact with the ball, but only after he had punched the head of Ben Frempah, who had risen to head the ball and who remained down for a lengthy spell following the incident.
There were long range attempts and dangerous runs in behind throughout the whole second half, but the Cray defenders, big and strong to a man, were able to see things out for the remainder of the game.
And so 1-0 was how it finished; elation following the demolition of Whitehawk giving way to frustration following their impotence at Cray. The Blues have a run of games in February, and it is kicked off by a visit to Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday, keen to avenge defeat at Summers Lane earlier in the year in a game that was not dissimilar to Saturday’s defeat to Cray.
Our next home game is against Lewes on February 3rd. The team need your support as the season moves towards the business end. We’ll see you there!
Wingate & Finchley: Goode; Solomon; Cracknell (Seager 78’); Bani (Krabbendam 68’); Frempah; Achuba; Garrett-Douglas; Carvalho; Chukwu; Long; Biler
Unused Subs: Hernandez; Frimpong; Ifil