Breathless at the Bridge

[urchinman1961]

What a night of football that's why I love this club,bring on Aveley up the Urchins

[cup of tea]

I’m a broken man, nerves are shattered. Cray were the form team left in the playoffs and it showed. But at the end of the day our guys came through it, were never behind in the match and you would always want Chris Dickson taking the key pen. On to Monday with a shootout winner take all game against our local rivals

[aka PeteBeatz]

Our team is bad for your health, anxiety followed by great relief and joy. Both teams gave 100%. Can I take another final. YES. 

[MR D]

It was always going to be a tough game and so it proved. Held our nerve in the penalty shootout and that’s the difference. Another difficult game on Monday where we have to be at the top of our game to get through.

[urchinman1961]

Good advert for the non league both sides played their part the full time whistle couldn't come quick enough we were out on our legs tbh and with Liam limping off hope he's OK for Monday he's pivotal to this side,not much sleep for me,up the Urchins 

[PONY TAILED URCHIN]

Fantastic advert for non league football with a cup tie draw and shootout.

Cant complain as we got over the line in the end but we will need to raise our game against Aveley in the final as they will not be so easy to score against.

Come on you Urchins!

[Albury_Walker]

Well done Urchins . Good luck in the final .🏆

[Urchins]

Well done to the players and staff, and us supporters for making it through to the play-off final. It was definitely a topsy-turvy game.

I stood with the Cray fans in the second half with friend of mine. The amount of abuse the linesman on our side got, from mainly middle-aged men was frankly disgusting. Firstly they thought our first goal was offside. They couldn't possibly have known this as they were up the other end of the ground when it went in, but someone told them as they walked around the ground that it was 'a mile off'. Clearly it wasn't. Then before we scored our second they believed they should have had a corner - Joe took goal the kick and Nashy scored. Therefore they blamed the linesman for a decision that the referee had already effectively made. Up until they got back into the game the linesman was to blame for losing them the game - the abuse was pretty relentless every time he got near them. 

What they didn't realise was that my friend was the linesman's father. His son is 22 and to be appointed to run the line at a game like that is quite an achievement - I think he's ranked as one of the top 100 young linesmen in the country. I looked at him as the abuse rained down on his son and there was a bit of a smile on his face - he knows that his son is mentally tough, is clearly going to officiate in some capacity at a much higher level and that he will get far worse abuse at bigger grounds and with bigger crowds. I was quite impressed at how he kept his cool. I don't think I could have kept that calm if it was my son - how would you have reacted ?

I really feel for everyone connected with Cray Wanderers. It's hard being so close to achieving something brilliant and knowing that you've got to start all over again and that you might not get another chance. Not so much for those few horrible supporters - they deserve every minute  of that heartache and disappointment.

Sometimes it feels good to shout and swear at a linesman or a referee if you think they've made a wrong decision - I understand it and I've done it so many times. They accept it's going to happen and most of them, bizarrely, enjoy it.  I don't think I've ever gone as far as those few Cray fans did though.

I hope as fans of a great club we can show a little more awareness and respect than they did.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Urchins

[PONY TAILED URCHIN]

3 hours ago, Urchins said:

Well done to the players and staff, and us supporters for making it through to the play-off final. It was definitely a topsy-turvy game.

I stood with the Cray fans in the second half with friend of mine. The amount of abuse the linesman on our side got, from mainly middle-aged men was frankly disgusting. Firstly they thought our first goal was offside. They couldn't possibly have known this as they were up the other end of the ground when it went in, but someone told them as they walked around the ground that it was 'a mile off'. Clearly it wasn't. Then before we scored our second they believed they should have had a corner - Joe took goal the kick and Nashy scored. Therefore they blamed the linesman for a decision that the referee had already effectively made. Up until they got back into the game the linesman was to blame for losing them the game - the abuse was pretty relentless every time he got near them. 

What they didn't realise was that my friend was the linesman's father. His son is 22 and to be appointed to run the line at a game like that is quite an achievement - I think he's ranked as one of the top 100 young linesmen in the country. I looked at him as the abuse rained down on his son and there was a bit of a smile on his face - he knows that his son is mentally tough, is clearly going to officiate in some capacity at a much higher level and that he will get far worse abuse at bigger grounds and with bigger crowds. I was quite impressed at how he kept his cool. I don't think I could have kept that calm if it was my son - how would you have reacted ?

I really feel for everyone connected with Cray Wanderers. It's hard being so close to achieving something brilliant and knowing that you've got to start all over again and that you might not get another chance. Not so much for those few horrible supporters - they deserve every minute  of that heartache and disappointment.

Sometimes it feels good to shout and swear at a linesman or a referee if you think they've made a wrong decision - I understand it and I've done it so many times. They accept it's going to happen and most of them, bizarrely, enjoy it.  I don't think I've ever gone as far as those few Cray fans did though.

I hope as fans of a great club we can show a little more awareness and respect than they did.

Was that the East side linesman? I thought both had a reasonable game but ref did seem to dictate decisions and they just indicated them

[paokman]

What was that with Cray the other night, they get a free kick and one of their players holds the ball above his head then quickly places it on the ground for his team mate to take the kick.

Don't remembere seeing this before and they did it at least twice.

Not that it got them anywhere

 

[Digger. The. Cat!]

On 27/04/2023 at 14:32, Urchins said:

Well done to the players and staff, and us supporters for making it through to the play-off final. It was definitely a topsy-turvy game.

I stood with the Cray fans in the second half with friend of mine. The amount of abuse the linesman on our side got, from mainly middle-aged men was frankly disgusting. Firstly they thought our first goal was offside. They couldn't possibly have known this as they were up the other end of the ground when it went in, but someone told them as they walked around the ground that it was 'a mile off'. Clearly it wasn't. Then before we scored our second they believed they should have had a corner - Joe took goal the kick and Nashy scored. Therefore they blamed the linesman for a decision that the referee had already effectively made. Up until they got back into the game the linesman was to blame for losing them the game - the abuse was pretty relentless every time he got near them. 

What they didn't realise was that my friend was the linesman's father. His son is 22 and to be appointed to run the line at a game like that is quite an achievement - I think he's ranked as one of the top 100 young linesmen in the country. I looked at him as the abuse rained down on his son and there was a bit of a smile on his face - he knows that his son is mentally tough, is clearly going to officiate in some capacity at a much higher level and that he will get far worse abuse at bigger grounds and with bigger crowds. I was quite impressed at how he kept his cool. I don't think I could have kept that calm if it was my son - how would you have reacted ?

I really feel for everyone connected with Cray Wanderers. It's hard being so close to achieving something brilliant and knowing that you've got to start all over again and that you might not get another chance. Not so much for those few horrible supporters - they deserve every minute  of that heartache and disappointment.

Sometimes it feels good to shout and swear at a linesman or a referee if you think they've made a wrong decision - I understand it and I've done it so many times. They accept it's going to happen and most of them, bizarrely, enjoy it.  I don't think I've ever gone as far as those few Cray fans did though.

I hope as fans of a great club we can show a little more awareness and respect than they did.

I was near their bench and their players/subs were no different. However they're are elements at every club and it is the sorry sight of our beautiful game.