The curtain was brought down on a dramatic 2016 for Cray Wanderers as they once again summoned all their powers of recovery to grab a point after going two goals behind against ten man Ramsgate at Hayes Lane.

The visitors looked like they would inflict a third straight defeat for Cray after an early Tom Chapman header and a Aaron Millbank penalty just after the half hour gave Ramsgate a two goal half time lead and a semblance of control.  In quite a feisty match they were reduced to ten men five minutes after the break when Oliver Gray was sent off for a second bookable offence and looked to have withstood Cray pressure until with eight minutes to go, Danny Haynes notched his 23rd goal of the season to give the Wands hope.  With the game two minutes into injury time Cray levelled when Jey Siva’s deflected shot salvaged a point.

Ramsgate got off to a flyer catching Cray cold after just 1 min 50 on the clock.  The hard working Aaron Millbank found Joe Kane down the right who swung over a cross which was met by the head of Tom Chapman who steered the ball past an advancing Nick Blue from close range. 

The visitors were the better side for the first half hour but Danny Haynes was denied for Cray by the feet of Ramsgate keeper Luke Watkins.

In the 31st minute, Ramsgate took advantage of a rare mistake from skipper Jay Leader who slipped over and Chapman strode on and was bundled over in the box by Paul Lorraine for a penalty for which he was booked and Millbank fired home the penalty.

Haynes was twice denied by Watkins before the break but with five bookings in the match, a red card at some stage seemed a strong possibility.

Ramsgate made things hard for themselves five minutes after the restart when Oliver Gray was booked for the second time following a foul on Karl Dent and had to play the last forty minutes plus a man down.

The Wands started to create openings and Dent and Haynes fired wide and Sherwin Stanley scored but was denied by a linesman’s flag.  Then Haynes shot was blocked by Watkins and the follow up from Dent was cleared off the line by Kane.  

Cray though are a very determined and resilient side and got themselves back in the game in the 82nd minute when Stanley set up Haynes who finally got the goal his display merited with a crisp drive past Watkins to set up a grandstand finale.

Ramsgate almost grabbed a third first through Millbank whose curling strike was well saved by Blue and then a burst from the back by Jack Penny whose dinked effort came back off the post. 

In the second minute of stoppage time, the Wands were awarded a free kick twenty five yards from goal.  Haynes slipped a pass through to Siva down the left who hit a shot which was deflected past Watkins by the unfortunate Kane for his first goal for Cray to help grab a point.

The game then ran its course and finished in a 2-2 draw which keeps Cray in 10th place in the table on 40 points.

Cray:   Nick Blue, Dane Luchford (Timi Osidobu, 26), Jey Siva, Jay Leader (Capt.) (Sherwin Stanley, 65), Paul Lorraine (Lea Dawson, 53), Lee Prescott, Danny Haynes, Karl Dent, Brandon Scott: Subs:  Anthony Adesite, Jai McKinlay

Attendance:   158