This was a game so reminiscent of when Premier league ‘big boys’ face a hungry championship/league 1 side who will stop at nothing to reach their goal. We became aware of Cray in October when they were beating teams like Bickley and Kumazi and couldn’t comprehend how this was possible. Having been in this league for some time we tend to get shut off to the possibility that there are other teams capable of performing amazing feats. In my time Catford Cricket club spring to mind as a team from below that was instantly top 3 senior division quality. I’m not sure if I can put Cray in this category as there are many factors such as player availability, injuries etc. that lead to this but one things for sure if they battle how they did yesterday not many teams will have an easy game.
The game started quite intense but instantly I became aware that they were different to many other teams. Most teams within the senior league have that playing ability to pass through the lines but Cray were more direct. They operated via a series of looped long balls and flick-ons that we were able to deal with albeit some was being quite fortunately gathered. Cray had a few half opportunities and Vista similar but when a lunging tackle on Siao Blackwood was awarded a penalty Vista went 1-0 ahead. In all honesty this was quite fortunate and a lifeline, which we should have capitalized on. At this point we started to dominate the possession and get into our rhythm and created attack after attack but not once did we gamble in order to go 2-0 up. Unlike us Cray battled for everything. Every tackle, header and defensive block was met with the upmost dedication. Cray looked tired 25 minutes into the game but never once had given up.
Through our domination I believe our players took their foots of the acceleration and this is where Cray capitalized. Defensively we slacked and from what was initially a harmful throw on Cray ended up at the edge of our area with their striker coming inside but striking back towards the nearside and beaten Steve Hanley. At this point the impression given off was that it was a lucky goal and we didn’t really show great enthusiasm to go ahead and for that we were punished. An indecisive tackle in the box led to a Cray penalty and they tucked it away nicely. Going in at half time 2-1 down we were quite frustrated and all seemed positive but what was to come was pretty unexpected.
A second half of perhaps minimal football even though we tried but were often resulted to long balls and Cray ate those up. Cray threatened on set pieces and we were fortunate enough not to concede but their backline refused to budge. We hardly created a meaningful chance. With the game looking unsteady we took a risk and it seriously backfired. With 10 minutes left on the clock we took the chance to move Dalhouse out of defense to help up top and possibly nick us a goal but that change unsteadied the backline and Cray scored two goals on the counter-attack to make it 4-1.For me personally it’s one of the worst days in Vista’s history. A win would have taken us into the semi-finals to compete against one of our rivals Kenningwell for a chance to retain our trophy from last season. Despite everything, full respect for Cray and it’s no surprise how they are doing this season.
Goals
Aaron Southard
M.O.M
Andrew Thompson