Corinthian-Casuals Boss James Bracken described his side’s 1-1 draw with Cray Wanderers as “Frustrating” after being unable to find the net in a dominant second-half display.

With visitors Cray Wanderers down to ten men for over 45 minutes following Danny Haynes’ straight red card for a dangerous tackle, Casuals found it tough going to break down a resolute Wand’s defence.

Cray had taken the lead in the 33rd minute against the run of play, but when Shaun Okojie was fouled in the box, Josh Uzun stepped up to convert the penalty for his 16th goal of the season.

However, that was to be the end of the scoring as Cray “Parked the Bus” in a resilient effort to prevent Corinth from taking all three points. “One word to describe today? Frustrating.” Said Bracken after the match.

“You've seen it a million times; if you watch football regularly, you'll know that breaking down ten men isn't always the easiest thing to do. The sending off has totally changed the complexion of the game. From there, Cray had very little ambition in the second half - which is fine - I might have been the same in similar circumstances. They stuck two banks of four behind the ball and we didn't do enough to break that. We weren't quick enough when moving the ball and it was hard on that pitch. It was a plod in a bog. “At half time, I said to the boys that we played fine in the first half but missed three or four good chances. We were the better team... just didn't take advantage. If we'd have carried on that good play in the second half, and in honesty if they'd have kept eleven players on the pitch, we probably would've won it because the game would likely have been more open. “With the pitch being the bog it was and our failure to break down the two banks of four, it made for a very frustrating afternoon. The draw leaves Casuals one place outside the playoff spots in 6th but with up to two games in hand against the league leaders."

Bracken was positive about the situation. “It's another game unbeaten which you take the positives from but we need to bounce back on Tuesday with another win. “We haven't lost ground on the leaders though. The last five games, we've picked up five points. Very feasibly, if another side had won five out of five, they could be ten points further off than us. We have two games in hand. Win those and we're six points off the top of the table. There's still a lot of football to play and it really is all to play for. “It's not just us saying that though, a lot of sides in this league – right down to tenth place will be thinking it's all to play for. We're confident of achieving something big here but it'd be nice to get back on another winning run, get ourselves back in the playoffs and open up a gap from sixth place.”

Casuals face East Grinstead Town on Tuesday before travelling to Molesey on Saturday.

Based on information supplied by Stuart Tree.