Small Eltham stadium sold out as Cray Valley take on Charlton Athletic in FA Cup replay

  • Daniel Henry went to The Valley ahead of the game

In a historic London derby, non-league Cray Valley will host their south London neighbours Charlton Athletic for the first time.

This evening (15 November) the FA cup first round replay takes place after Cray Valley battled out a one-all draw at Charlton's ground last week.

The non League club are 4 miles away from Charlton so there are more divisions than there are miles separating the 2 teams.

The Eltham-based club are 117 places and five leagues below the Addicks but their spirited second-half performance meant they fully deserved another crack at reaching the second round of the competition after a 1-1 draw at The Valley.

Cray, who play in the Isthmian League South East Division, have lost just one of their 20 matches this season and Kyrell Lisbie – the son of former Charlton striker Kevin – produced the cross which Lucas Ness slid into his own net to equalise just three minutes into the second half.

It cancelled out Scott Fraser’s ninth-minute opener for the League One hosts.

Just 1,550 tickets will be made available for the match at the Badgers Sports Ground in Eltham tonight, with Addicks fans only allocated 282 tickets.

Cray Valley goalkeeper Sam Freeman celebrated with a replica of the Emirates FA Cup trophy. Credit: PA Images

Manager McKimm and his players celebrated in front of their 1,998 fans who had made the short journey.

“I’m extremely proud – my staff get a mention because they are an unbelievable support network and the players are the star of the show,” said McKimm. “They are the ones who go out there and do it.

“Charlton are not far from the play-offs. They have got good players and a good manager. We knew we couldn’t come and just be expansive.

“I’m not going to kid anyone. We didn’t play Charlton’s first team but we played a team that is full of professionals, train every day and have the fitness and nutrition – and my boys were superb. It’s special.”

The first match was played at Charlton Althletic's ground, The Valley. Credit: PA Images

Charlton head coach Michael Appleton made 11 changes from their last outing.

“I was disappointed with the performances of some of the players. I expected a little bit more.

“Probably up until the goal it was okay – still a little bit safe by a few players, not really looking to make the impact I expected to.

“There was a lot of anxiety after the goal and they struggled after that. It was a hard watch at times.

“I take full responsibility for picking the team and clearly it was the wrong one. At least we’ve got a second crack at it.”