Rayners Lane have psychological edge but Flackwell Heath haven't given up on title

Mark Nisbet makes a sliding challenge against Rayners Lane. Photo credit: Glenn Alcock

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Rayners Lane have given themselves the psychological advantage in this season’s Combined Counties Premier Division North title race after going to closest rivals Flackwell Heath and beating them in their own back yard.

Chris Ayres’ Flackwell side had the chance to move to within a couple of points of the leaders – with two games in hand – at Wilks Park on Saturday, but events didn’t pan out how he or the players would have hoped.

Instead, they were undone by a series of clinical finishes from Frank Keita, who helped himself to a hat-trick in a 3-1 win.

The result moves Rayners eight points clear of the Heathens; however, Ayres’ side do still have those matches in hand, and the sides are still to play each other later this month (February 24).

Ayres told his players before kick-off the destination of this season’s title wouldn’t be decided by this game, but, in a definitive ‘six-point’ match, it’s Rayners who now hold the advantage.

Flackwell know they must go on another long unbeaten run to stay with the leader, after Saturday’s disappointing defeat brought an end to their previous 12-match streak in all competitions.

Reflecting on the contest, Ayres said: “We were disappointed. We felt we had an opportunity to get something from the game, but we just didn’t perform well enough on the day.

“Credit to Rayners Lane, they have the players who have played at a higher level, and they managed the game better than we did on the day. When you’ve got five or six players who weren’t as good as they have been in recent weeks, you’re going to struggle.

“We were disappointed, more about our performance because it’s not how we’ve been of late.

“We tried to play it down a bit and say, ‘the league isn’t won and lost today’, it’s not the be all and end all. We knew it was a big game, but we just never got going. I blame myself partly because of how I set the team up. It didn’t work and I changed the shape after 20 minutes.

“That did have a bearing on things because we got back into the game. We hit the bar with a good chance to make it 1-1, and they went down the other end and made it 2-0, so it was fine margins.

“When we got back to 3-1, we huffed and puffed, but they saw it out.”

Ayres added: “You have to hold your hands up sometimes. They’ve got the best players in the league, so they should win the league.

“It’s not like we’ve gone ‘Rayners will win the league’, but we’ll try to put another run together now and stay with them. We’ve got to keep the pressure on. If we win our games in hand, it’s only two points and we’ve still got to go to them. We’re not out of it.”

The Heathens managed to get the game out of their system on Tuesday, with a 2-1 win over Balham in the Premier Challenge Cup.

The current cup holders missed a penalty through Marcus Mealing, but still had enough to beat Balham with goals from Jack Shakespeare (16’) and Callum Mapley (86’).

This Saturday, they face another tough test of their title credentials, when they visit play-off chasers Virginia Water at Stag Meadow. They then host Chalfont St Peter at Wilks Park on Tuesday evening (February 6).

“It was good to have a game on Tuesday because it gave us a chance to get everything out of our system,” he said. “We missed a penalty, but we managed to get through. We want to try and do well in that because it’s a cup we won last year.

“And now we have a real toughie away to Virginia Water on Saturday, who are in the play-offs. Injuries are mounting up a bit but that’s part and parcel of the season. We’ll try to stay with Rayners Lane and are looking to try and get someone through this week, especially with the injuries we’ve got.”