The benign opening 89 minutes of this game gave little hint of the drama that was to unfold in the closing moments of this somewhat lack lustre encounter.

The only moment of note in the first half came on 40 mins when a probing ball from David Graves down the right-hand side intended for Sol Pinnock was intercepted at speed by Tom Jelley who was making a darting run into the Wands' penalty area. Despite the pace at which he took the ball he was able to keep it under control cut inside and toe poke the ball goalwards. As the ball sailed over the head of Darren Bechet, the slight deflection it took on the way caused it to dip sharply as it dropped in under the crossbar and into the roof of the net. HT 0-1 to The Terrors

There was no meaningful action in the second half until the 61st minute.  A long ball from Cheadle found Billy Marshall on the edge of the box, who then turned the ball inside to Liam Wright who screwed his shot wide of Bechet's right-hand post. 10 minutes later Billy Marshall broke clear and this time fired his shot straight at the former Terrors' No.1. In the very next minute, new boy Liam Wright found himself in the clear. From just inside the box he tried to chip/flick the ball over the advancing Bechet however his effort went just over the bar. This was his final piece of action as a double substitution by Craig Tanner in the 72nd minute saw Wright and Marshall replaced by TJ Nkoma and Howard Newton. 7 minutes later, Elliot Simpson came on for Jordan Clarke.

No sooner had Tooting made their final change than Cray broke forward and from the ensuing shot were awarded at best, a very questionable corner. The result was a high hanging ball put into the Tooting box which was met with a firm header by one of Wanderers' centre backs which sent the ball past Paul Smith and into the net to make it 1-1.

On 84 mins a well worked move saw a curling left foot shot from Sol Pinnock on the edge of the box which just went the wrong side of the upright. 4 minutes later Howard Newton carried the ball forward and finding himself in space 25 yards out took a firm strike on goal only to see his shot go safely into the arms of Darren Bechet.

In the 89th minute a free kick on the left found TJ in space. He carried the ball, cut into the box and shot but ballooned the ball over the bar. In the final minute of normal time, Elliot Simpson clipped the ball in from the left onto the head of Sol Pinnock but he was unable to to get his effort on target.

From the resultant re-start, Cray broke forward however their attack was abruptly broken up as the player in possession was brought down by David Graves just inside the Tooting half for which he received a straight red card. From the free kick that followed, the ball broke loose in the Tooting box however the shot that then came in was fired straight at Paul Smith who was able to keep the ball out however along with 2 other Terrors' defenders, was injured in the process. After a delay of several minutes the game was restarted however not before Nathan Gordon was booked for time wasting.

By now the game was well into stoppage time and in the 101st minute, some sloppy Cray passing just inside their own half saw TJ take possession of the ball, weave his way between two players and head into the box. Meanwhile Sol Pinnock made a darting run towards the penalty spot in support as everyone waited for TJ to pull the ball back to him. But no. TJ decide to continue to head toward the bye line, took the ball round the advancing Bechet and from a yard short of the line managed to find the finest of angles to strike the ball, left footed, into the back of the Cray net to send the couple of dozen or so Terrors fans behind the goal, the players and the entire bench into raptures of delight. Not that it mattered however the over exuberant celebrations saw yellow cards issued to TJ for removing his shirt and the substituted Jordan Clarke who chose to return to the pitch to join in the celebrations. FT 1-2 to The Terrors. Att 155

Tooting line up; Smith, Jelley, Gordon, Graves, Cheadle, Knock, Clarke (Simpson), Quarm, Pinnock, Marshall (Newton), Wright (Nkoma). Unused subs; Hartburn, H Cheadle, Aiken-Simon and Murphy

Last edited by Tim Marcus (13/9/2014 6:56 pm)