Cray Valley went top of the Isthmian League as they defeated Burgess Hill Town 4-1 at the HomeCall Carpets Community Stadium.

It was always going to be a tough fixture against a side who have now won all 12 of their away league fixtures this season and still remain unbeaten in the league.

Gary Mansell was forced into changes as injury’s are piling up. U18’s keeper Elliott Dailly came in for his debut after Taylor Seymour pulled out with injury.

The first chance fell the way of the Hillians as Cray Valley muck it up at the back and Dan Perry is given the ball inside the area unexpectedly, he only has Max Ovenden to beat but the goalkeeper comes out and makes a cracking point blank save.

Within in a minute it was the Millers chance to take the lead as they are gifted an opportunity after we lose it cheaply at the back and a Cray forward can only wack the woodwork from close range.

Hill were given another let off when again we lost the ball on the edge of our box but once again, the Millers miss the target from inside the area.

Cray though did take the lead as a defence splitting pass down the Millers left sees Ademiluyi latch onto a ball and slot it past Daily.

Six minutes later is was two as a ball in the box sees Sonny Black have all the time in the world to chest down and double the lead.

The visitors were piling on the pressure, Martyn Box stops Cray adding a third with a cracking tackle and then the Millers win the ball high up once again but this time they tamely fire wide.

Just before half time Dailly make a cracking save to keep us in the contest, although Cray think it’s crossed the line as the visitors went in at the break two up.

Seven minutes into the second half and the visitors made it three as a shot is deflected, we don’t clear it from our box and Matthew Vigor thumps home the 3rd.

The Hillians got themselves back in the game on 69 minutes as Cray make one mistake in the middle of the park and get punished ruthlessly by Reece Hallard. He jinks past a couple and smashes past a helpless Ovenden to claw one back with a really good finish.

It could nearly have been 3-2 but for a fantastic last ditch tackle from Sonny Black as Kieran Rowe looked like he was about to smash home our second.

With 13 minutes remaining the scoring was completed as Cray hit a fourth to seal the win through Lyle Della-Verde.

Hill were down to 10 men when Darren Budd saw red for an off the ball incident much to the amazement of most of the crowd with six remaining.

Cray now move top of the table and go ahead of Ramsgate, they will take some stopping on their charge towards the title.

Hill will look to bounce back on Saturday when we travel to Phoenix Sports.