This was Tony Russell’s first game in charge of the Wands and brought a good team down to Woodstock Park including former Wands favourite Leigh Bremner and a few more players from VCD Athletic.

On a particularly difficult dry and bumpy pitch Cray were caught cold early in the game when Billy French headed home after just over a minute to put the Brickies in front.

Cray never really settled in the early stages and the home side looked good going forward and scored a well taken second goal after 11 minutes when Adam Williams finished a decent passing move. Only resolute defending from Cray prevented Sittingbourne adding to their lead before Cray made any inroads into the game.

Halfway through the half Cray had their best spell when Uchi Ibrahim tested home keeper Adam Molloy with a stinging effort from twenty yards which was tipped over the bar. Shortly after Sean Roberts came close with another dipping effort pushed over by Molloy.

Cray were unlucky just before half time when James Duckworth’s cross was well met by the head of Bremner but the ball went straight to Molloy. Centre Forward Andre McCollin looked threatening going forward at times and came close on a couple of occasions to reducing the arrears.

Half Time: 2-0

In the second half the pace of the game slowed considerably with Sittingbourne looking fairly content to hold on to what they had.

Chances were at a premium second half with McCollin testing Molloy early on. A good passing move ended with Bremner setting up McCollin who shot straight at the keeper.

The best moment of the second half was another good tip over by Molloy this time from Bremner’s fine turn and shot.

After this the game petered out somewhat although Sittingbourne did come close a couple of times to adding to their score. The game finished with the home side looking the sharper as their pre-season had begun a week before.

The Wands will know that you can never read too much into the opening pre-season game but should be sharper out the blocks for their next game.

Cray 1st Half Team: Blue, Wilson, Patterson, Reeves, Payne, Carpenter, Roberts, Ibrahim, Duckworth, Bremner, McCollin.