LONDON'S FINEST WANDERING FREE

BEING humbled at home by your closest rivals doesn’t exactly constitute the perfect homecoming but it would have taken a lot more than a derby defeat to overshadow Cray Wanderers’ big day.

- TONY INCENZO

The Wands finally flung open the doors to their brand new £5m Flamingo Park Stadium for its first ever competitive fixture on Tuesday night, bringing an end to 26 years of groundsharing at Bromley’s Hayes Lane.

Although recognised as London’s oldest football club – dating back to 1860 – it is the first time that Cray have acquired a ground of their own in 164 years of existence. Wanderers no more.

Ironically, near neighbours Cray Valley PM – for so long in their shadows – were the visitors for the big occasion and, in front of a crowd of 840, it was they who spoiled the happy homecoming with a 2-0 win to record their first ever Step 3 success.

So, the Millers may have taken the spoils on the field but, off it, it was very much Wanderers’ day. Unsurprisingly, after having waited so long for a home to call their own, CEO Sam Wright was in emotional mood.

“It is hard to put it into words,” he said. “We are all walking around looking a bit insane with huge smiles on our faces. Things haven’t really sunk in yet that we now have a ground to be proud of.

“We would actually have suffered a big problem if we were still groundsharing at Bromley because they’ve been promoted to the Football League. Therefore it has panned out extremely nicely for us.