The resounding loss leaves the Rocks rooted firmly to bottom spot in the league table and having to face up to the very real threat of relegation.
The Rocks had hoped to enjoy a reversal in fortunes as they set about trying to pull away from the drop zone, with confidence boosted after pulling off a 4-3 win from being 3-1 down at Dulwich Hamlet last time of asking. But the defensive frailties that have dogged the visitors all season reared their ugly head once more and the indecision at the back proved to be costly.
Bosses Michael Birmingham and Jamie Howell were forced to shuffle their pack again with Calvin Davies and Dion Jarvis still missing through suspension and Tommy Block unavailable through injury. And the strength in depth was put to the test early on as the hosts took the lead on seven minutes thanks to Kurtis Cumberbatch. Tom Beere added a second four minutes later and the very real fear was that the Rocks would crumble and suffer a heavy defeat.
And while conceding four goals is hardly ideal, they were at least in the game during spells of possession and but for a string of fine saves from home keeper Harrison Chamberlain — one he made from Jasper Mather was especially good — the Nyewood Lane outfit could have grabbed a goal to at least make things interesting.
As it was the Kenny Aileru thwarted any thoughts of a heroic comeback when he made it 3-0 on 48 minutes and Adam Coombes wrapped things up for the hosts in the 90th minute.
Howell saw positives in some aspects of play from the visitors but ultimately, he was disappointed by the showing.
He said: “It’s very frustrating but that’s where we are at the moment. Possession wise we had a lot of the ball but football is about what you do in both boxes and they made the correct decisions in both boxes and I think a little bit of naivety has cost us the game to be fair. Giving them a 2-0 advantage leaves us with a mountain to climb and makes it very difficult. Some of the stuff we did was good but at the end of the day the difference was in both boxes.”
Birmingham has called for more pride from his players as the co-managers look to rally their troops ahead of the game at Hashtag United on Tuesday.
He said: “I think we go in to the final third as many times as Cray Valley but everything we tried to do was very tepid; there was no desire or aggression in our crosses, our passes and our shots and it’s not good enough. I thought we matched them between both boxes but we accept mistakes too easily and it’s like, ‘oh well, we have conceded again… don’t worry about it!’ There has to be more pride. We can’t keep gifting goals like that.”
1 Ryan Hall, 2 Jasper Mather, 3 Spencer Spurway, 4 Doug Tuck, 5 Jay Richardson, 6 Chad Field, 7
Preston Woolston, 8 Matt Burgess (C), 9 Dan Gifford, 10 Tommy-Lee Higgs, 17 Ollie Starkey. Substitutes: 12 Lewis Beale – Jay Richardson (31′), 14 Rio Long – Preston Woolston (88′), 15 Ashton Horstead – Ollie Starkey 89′, Lennie Smith – Jasper Mather 89′. Harvey Whyte.
