WHITSTABLE TOWN 1 CRAY WANDERERS 0
Pre-season friendly
Saturday August 22 2020 15.00

This was a day that everyone had looked forward to for a long time, as supporters were finally allowed back into the ground. It had meant a lot of hard work behind the scenes to try to keep everybody safe, but there were 152 people there to see an organised Whitstable team beat their Isthmian Premier Division opponents by a single first half goal. In a tight game, the home team just about deserved their win having created the better chances.

Whitstable had lost a pre-season game 5-1 against the same opposition in July 2019, when Joe Taylor scored all of the goals for Cray Wanderers. He started this game on the bench for an otherwise similar looking Cray squad.

The game was played in warm sunshine, although conditions were spoilt a little by a keen wind. Aaron Millbank shot over the bar in the 12th minute after a promising run and a few minutes later he fired another effort just wide. In between, Freddie Parker, who had spent a month on loan at Whitstable last season, had a shot blocked for the visitors. The decisive goal came in the 20th minute after Whitstable had won a free kick on the left. Tom Bryant and Jay Hards caused some problems in the box for the Cray defence and Ollie Rowe, making his first appearance since scoring in the final game of last season at Hastings, was on hand to steer the ball into the net. A few minutes later, a good ball in from the left found Tijan Jadama, but he was unable to test Lewis Carey in the Cray goal. There were a couple of opportunities for Cray from free kicks outside the box, but Dan Eason remained untroubled. Jadama was having a good game in midfield for Whitstable and had another effort deflected for a corner. The best chances for Cray before the break were both from corners, as firstly a free header at the back post flew over the bar and then Barney Williams shot over from outside the area after the ball had only been partially cleared. Whitstable went into the half time interval leading 1-0.

Both teams made changes throughout the second half with Leo Mazzone doing a good job at right back after replacing Ollie Gray at half time. Eason did have a couple of good shots from distance to save in the opening stages of the second half, one from substitute Bradley Pritchard and another from one of the trialists. Whitstable generally stuck well to their game plan and denied their senior opponents many sights of goal and also managed to create a few opportunities to increase their advantage. Carey did well to keep out a glancing header by Millbank from a Liam King cross, but the offside flag had already been raised. In the 56th minute, Jadama set up Millbank once more and Carey again saved well before Liam Gillies picked up the rebound and had his shot deflected behind. Then from the resulting corner, Millbank headed over the bar in his last action before being substituted after his usual hard working performance. Joe Taylor, on as a substitute for Cray, was unable to repeat his heroics of the previous season, but did have one attempt blocked and almost found the net in the 84th minute when he put the ball just wide from a right wing cross. It was Whitstable that had looked more likely to add to their score however when Gillies shot just over and then Rowe poked the ball into the net again following a free kick into the area, but it was ruled out by an offside flag. The final chance of the game fell to Whitstable when Cray’s replacement goalkeeper Roman Hall made a great stop from Liam King and from the rebound Muhammed Cham saw his attempt deflected away for a corner.

Whitstable manager Lloyd Blackman will have been encouraged by his team’s display and they now move on to home games on each of the next two Tuesday evenings against more Premier Division opponents in Margate and Folkestone Invicta.

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Ollie Gray (Leo Mazzone 46), James Brown, Luke Girt, Ollie Rowe, Tom Bryant (c), Tijan Jadama (Victor Aiyelabola 78), Charles Etumnu (Muhammed Cham 65), Aaron Millbank (Trialist 2 57), Trialist 1 (Liam Gillies 53), Jay Hards (Liam King 53).
Goal: Ollie Rowe 20

Cray Wanderers
Lewis Carey, Barney Williams, Tom Carlse, Jay Leader, Martin Onoabaghbe, Tom Phipp, Trialist 1, Lee Lewis, Rhys Murrell-Williamson, Freddie Parker, Trialist 2.
Subs: Joe Taylor, Bradley Pritchard, Ben Mundele, Mitchell Nelson, Jerome Federico, Roman Hall, Trialist 3, Trialist 4.

Attendance: 152
Referee: Kane Dempster
Assistants: Mike Marsh & Morgan Davis