Cray Wanderers 0 v 4 Fleet Town

Ryman League Division One South

AFTER their penalty shoot-out glory in the FA and an appearance on BBC's Football Focus, Cray Wanderers crashed back to earth with a massive thud against Fleet Town.

Cray could have climbed to second in the table with a win but in the end their defence could not cope with Fleet's pacy attack and four first-half goals embarrassed the hosts into an early submission and sent them plummeting to 10th.

Ian Jenkins was without six players - Ross Lover, Jamie Kempster, Al-James Hannigan, Gary Abbott and Leigh Bremner were injured while skipper Mark Willy was away with work commitments - but the match opened evenly.

Jenkins said: "We did alright for the opening 25 minutes but the first chance they had, they scored, and then the second chance they had, they scored again and it just carried on from there really.

"In the second half we had some chances to nick a goal back which could have changed things."

The opening exchanges were shared with Fleet's Eddie Smith going close, Jamie Wood forcing a fine save from Justin Gray and Colin Luckett's 20-yard free-kick narrowly wide.

Fleet took advantage of Cray's make-shift back four and Matt Lee was done for pace by Darren Campbell so he resorted to bringing him down.

From the deep free-kick Steve Hemmings rose highest to bury his header past the exposed Steve Northwood.

On 25 minutes Campbell made it 2-0 when he left Ian Rawlings, in for Mark Willy, in a heap on the penalty spot with a deft turn and beat Northwood from eight yards.

There was more bad news for Jenkins when Matt Woolf hobbled off to be replaced by Adam Young.

It was 3-0 on 32 minutes when a cross reached the unmarked James Field at the back post and Northwood had no chance.

Cray thought they had reduced the arrears but Jamie Wood was penalised for a foul on Gray long before the ball crossed the line.

Luck had deserted Cray completely when, on the stroke of half-time, Michael Douglas' low cross was cut out by Northwood only for the ball to reach Field who scored his second from close range.

Before the re-start Jenkins received more bad news as Jamie Wood was injured and would not be re-appearing.

With Abbott on the bench but unfit and the match all-but lost, Jenkins came on.

The half belonged to Fleet although they did not add to their tally, thanks mostly to Northwood's never-give-up attitude and he saved with his feet three times in the closing stages.

For Cray, Junior Baker headed onto the crossbar in a rare foray forward and David Hall saw his shot blocked by the keeper's legs when clean through.

Eventually the referee put Cray out of their misery and left Jenkins hoping his squad will be back to full-strength for this weekend's vital FA Cup match against Leatherhead.

Jenkins said: "It is a massive game for us.

"We have never lost to them at home but it is going to be a tough game.

"Jamie Wood appears to have fractured a bone in his foot, Matt Woolf has pulled a muscle, Leigh Bremner and Gary Abbott are 50-50.

"The only player I will definitely have back is Mark Willy although we're also going to work on Jamie Kempster's injury this week."

MATCH FACTS: CRAY: Northwood, 7, Lee, 6, Luckett, 6, Whelan, 6, Rawlings, 5, D Hall, 6, Woolf, 6 (Young, 32), Morris, 6, L Wood, 5, Baker, 6, J Wood, 5 (Jenkins, 45).

SUBS NOT USED: Abbott, G Hall, Francis.

ATT: 134.