PITCHING-IN ISTHMIAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIV
At a glance: Cray Valley (PM) FC
Final Position 19th - Relegated
League P42 W11 D9 L22 F54 A80 Diff -26 PTS 42

A disappointing season which ultimately ended in relegation and a return to step 4 in our second season at step 3. It is arguably the club's first ever relegation certainly since they were made to start in a lower division of the South London Alliance League following the closure of the paper mill in 1981. A successful decade in the Kent County League in the 2000's was followed by obtaining senior status at step 5 in the now SCEFL for the 2011/12 season with promotion to step 4 in 2018/19 and step 3 in 2023/24.

The tone was set from the outset with the Millers suffering back to back opening league defeats for the first time since season 2014/15. The two home defeats against Carshalton Athletic and Burgess Hill Town were followed by a third away at Whitehawk. The first league win of the season came at home to Ramsgate with a convincing 4-1 scoreline. Three points at home would prove difficult to come by as it was another eight league games before another home win materilised, ironically again with a 4-1 scoreline, this time against Wingate & Finchley on the 13th December.

Wins on the road were it seems easier to achieve with three points earned at Potters Bar Town, Dulwich Hamlet, Carshalton Athletic and Chichester City during the barren run at home. After the home win on the 13th December the side occupied 14th place on 26 points from 21 games. The R word relegation at that time hadn't really been thought of although performances and results were perhaps not as would have initially been expected.

It had looked as if Steve McKimm and his team had turned the corner with a five league match unbeaten run including four wins between 18th November and 13th December which had followed a run of 7 league games without a win albeit with 4 draws. Unfortunately this proved to be a false dawn.

The next eight games yielded just one point and the danger signs and the prospect of relegation entered, perhaps for the first time. The side now sat in 19th place on 27 points from 29 games. The one draw had come at home to Cheshunt 3-3 having been 3-0 down at half time. Prior to that two successive 5-0 defeats away at Cray Wanderers on the 27th December and St Albans City on the 10th January were very much a low point.

There was a change of management following the defeat at Brentwood Town on the 7th February. Kevin Lisbie took the reigns for the first time away at Canvey Island on the 14th February and the team found themselves 2-0 down after just 9 minutes before recovering to take a point in a 2-2 draw. A 2-1 defeat at home to Dulwich Hamlet followed but a 1-0 win at Lewes on the 28th February the first three point haul since the 13th December gave hope. However, the next four games all ended in defeat, three at home, all by a 4-1 scoreline. One factor that didn't help results was that on the first three home games under Kevin the side were forced to play the entire second half with ten men, having had a player dismissed in the first half, twice after second yellows. Looking back now it is clear a change of playing personnel and mentality required time to translate into results.

That did eventually happen and the final six league games saw a marked improvement in performance and results with three wins, two draws and just the one defeat. Unfortunately it came just too late and results elsewhere on the final day with Carshalton Athletic winning meant we fell just short of moving out of the bottom four to safety.

Total First Team games inc all cups but exc friendlies - 52 (League 42 Cup 10)
Appearances: All competitions inc sub (in brackets)
Funmaya Shomotun 48 (14), Kurtis Cumberbatch 42 (14), Marvel Ekpiteta 39 (0), Dan Ajakaiye 39 (11), Marcel Barrington 37 (22), Matty Vigor 31 (11), Shaun Peart-Rowley 30 (0), Ibby Akanbi 30 (17), Tom Beere 29 (3), Kenny Alieru 28 (13), Danny Waldren 27 (9), Manny Adebiyi 27 (12), Crossley Lema 25 (0), Denzel Gayle 25 (14), Cem Tumkaya 23 (5), Dan Bowry 22 (1), Rowan Liburd 21 (1), Luke Holness 20 (9), Barney Williams 18 (0), Sonny Black 17 (5), Luke Moore 16 (4), Alex Kpakpe 16 (7), Montel Agyemang 15 (1), Clement Asiedu 14 (3), Makise Evans 13 (1), Prince Adegoke 12 (0), Jerry Puemo 12 (1), Jemaine Green 12 (7), Isiah Harvey 11 (2), Alfie Newby 10 (0), Chris Dickson 8 (2), Sanchez Ming 7 (0), Kareem Isiaka 7 (2), Hassan Ibrahiym 7 (3), Bola Okewoye 7 (7), Ola Ogunwamide 5 (0), Frankie-Jay Moralee 4 (1), Will Benedict 4 (1), Theo Jeffrey 4 (3), Harrison Chamberlain 3 (0), Tate Holtham 3 (0), Elliott McKImm 3 (0), Harley Stuart---Forde 3 (3), Sean Scannell 2 (0), Dan Smith 2 (0), Archie Burford 1 (0), Max Ovenden 1 (0), Bala Makumbi 1 (0), Shaun Soukou 1 (1)

A total of 49 players used, considerably more than previous seasons.

Goals: League and Cup (League in brackets
Ibby Akanbi 12 (7), Funmaya Shomotun 7 (6)), Tom Beere 7 (6), Dan Ajakaiye 6 (5), Makise Evans 5 (5), Marcel Barrington 5 (4), Matty Vigor 5(3), Chris Dickson 3 (3), Rowan Liburd 3 (3), Kenny Aileru 2 (2), Sonny Black 2 (2), Liam Moore 2 (2), Alfie Newby 2 (2), Luke Holness 2 (1), Denzel Gayle 1 (1), Ola Ogunwamide 1 (1), Cem Tumkaya 1 (1), Manny Adebiyi 1 (0), Theo Jeffrey 1 (0), Own Goal 1 (0)

Link to season archive including match by match.
https://www.crayvalleypmfc.com/a/past-seasons-archive-60404.html?page=4

The Preston perspective - Cray Valley (PM) Supporter Preston Lee-Willott
(The following is taken from Preston's Facebook post and of course represents his views and not necessarily those of others and the club)
Season Review

If you've ever wondered what it's like to walk the plank off a pirate ship, then following Cray Valley PM Football Club in 2026 is as close as you'll get in the modern world . . . .

I guess after the dizzy heights of challenging for promotion in our first ever season in the Isthmian Premier and being a whisker ( literally ) of making the promotion play-off final at Dartford this time last year, it was that classic irony of football that we should be back at Dartford 12 months later fighting to preserve our very existence in this league.

In the end, it was immaterial ; the win we managed proved we'd left ourselves too much to do as Carshalton's win kept them above us and down we go.

I suspect as dust settles on it all, we were in bigger trouble than we'd ever imagined before a ball was even kicked ; many of the team opted to leave and pursue opportunities in higher divisions or at clubs with bigger budgets, and elsewhere we released other players that perhaps with hindsight we shouldn't have , but that's academic now.

The results showed in the early third of the season that the new recruits were struggling to gel, and wins were very elusive, but eventually it looked like things were beginning to "click" with wins at home to Ramsgate, and away at Welling and Potters Bar.

As we entered those autumnal days of mists and mellow fruitfulness , we struggled to harvest any more wins, despite the gradual return of several of our star players from last season and we were in danger of being the firework display that wouldn't really work as we slid concerningly down the table.

The manager tried his utmost to change our fortunes ; some players were shipped out, and new faces brought in to freshen things up and try to get that sparkle, and then "BOOM"! Like a belated firework party the Millers burst into life with a great win at Dulwich Hamlet in mid-November.

Further wins followed on the road at Carshalton and Chichester ( some great pubs there I tell thee ) and a convincing 4-1 win over Wingate & Finchley had us all feeling positive that there would be no winter of discontent at the Artic stadium .

There was light at the end of the tunnel.

Unfortunatley , that light was not just the train coming towards us, but a double-headed heavy freight train at that.

A 5-0 mauling away at Cray Wanderers was followed by a similar 5-0 drubbing at the gorgeous St. Albans ground ( and the hosts took their foot off the gas after the fifth went in ), and I quite frankly feared the worst even then

That freight train we'd been struck by proved to be a very long one, as we then lost to bottom side Potters Bar and were 2 down in almost as many minutes away at Aveley to lose that one 3-0 at the final whistle. To compound supporters misery on that afternoon, the Dartford Tunnel was down to one bore so those who travelled by car had a thoroughly miserable day , capped off by a bombshell of an interview after the match with the club captain that laid stark a very disunited and unhappy dressing room

There clearly wasn't a "team" any more .....

Inevitable I guess, and very sadly, a much revered manager who'd brought us much success paid for this with his job. I was very very sad ....... but that's football and you have to go with it.

Enter the stage ; former player and club legend Kevin Lisbie to try his hand at management.

I'm told there was a breath of fresh air around at training , and very soon a host of players were shiown the door, and more new faces brought in ....... but sadly results didn't improve.

The story seemed to be one of "score.... and then concede" ... and it became a quesiton of how many we might concede as 1-4 reverses seemed to stack up like trucks waiting to board a ferry at Dover.

Every fixture seemed a step closer to the end of that metaphorical plank on the broadside of the Isthmian Premier Piratesship . . . . and then we gave ourselves hope that we could just pull off an escape with tantalising wins at Lewes and Ramsgate ....... maybe, just maybe we could do this ???

It's the hope that kills you in this game ; failing to get 3 points at Hashtag was another mortal blow, as was conceding late ( again ) at home to crowned Champions Folkestone which meant we needed a win and other results to go our way on the final day.

It wasn't to be , and eventually we went "ker-splish ; ker-splosh" off that plank and into the Isthmain South-East Pool.
For me , the club took a big gamble when they changed the manager when they did ; in the short term it obviously hasn't paid off ........ but we'll have to approach next season with cautious optimism that we can regroup, consolidate , and have at the very least a more upbeat season than this one has been .

These last 2 seasons have been a whirlwind ; feels like we've never actually "settled down" to enjoy life in the Isthmian, but hey-ho.

I thank all the players whom have tried hard for us, the club officers and staff who give up every weekend and more to make this set-up tick, and to me fellow supporters who've become friends too ; those beers after St. Albans were much needed , as has your friendship all along. You know who you are.

Up the Millers, and let's hope we can rebuild.

Preston Lee-Willott