The visitors were much the better side over a tired looking Wroxham side in the first half and went ahead through Chris Piper’s 12th minute strike.

Piper then had an effort tipped onto the post by Elliot Pride on 18 minutes, with Danny White heading wide in Wroxham’s best opening of the half.

The second half continued in the same vein as Cray pressed Wroxham’s defence – Alex Teniola looking particulary lively – before two tap ins in quick succession from Remy Gordon and Nathan Stone turned the game on its head.

And The Yachtsmen dug deep to hold on as Cray pushed them to the end, Pride tipping away Orlando’s Smith’s acrobatic effort deep in injury time to preserve Wroxham’s lead and help them climb further into the Ryman North play-off positions.

The Yachtsmen may count themselves very lucky to come away with all three points, with their lowly opponents arguably dominating for much of the encounter, but points are more important than performances as the season comes to the business end.

Stewart Larter made two changes from the side that defeated local rivals Dereham Town on Saturday, with Danny Rust and Payton Swatman replacing Ben Price and Jack Garrod, who dropped to the bench.

A quiet start was almost brought to life in the 7th minute as a quick break down the left sparked Wroxham’s first real opening.

Some clever play released Remy Gordon just inside the box, the winger dropping his shoulder before finding space to lay the ball across the six yard box, with the attempted clearance from Dean Gardikiotis falling to Jamie Forshaw from eight yards out, who could only sky his effort over.

The left hand side seemed to be Wroxham best avenue of attack, with some slick passing releasing the winger again two minutes later, only for his potential opening to be snuffed out by the Cray defence.

This positive opening was short-lived however, as they relegation-threatened opponents began to get a foot hold in the contest.

And it wasn’t long before they found themselves ahead through Chris Piper’s 12th minute effort.

A free kick from the left found Nick Humphrey in acres of space in the box, the defender only able to scuff his effort off Matt Halliday and into Piper’s path, the midfielder driving the bobbling ball down and into the bottom right corner for 1-0.

The Wands were looking dangerous in attack as Wroxham were struggling to deal with their physical nature up top.

Piper was the main protagonist in everything that was good for the visitors – playing with a superb industry in the middle of the park – and he almost doubled his side’s lead on 18 minutes as another set piece almost paid dividends for the visitors.

A corner from the left was deliberately played to the midfielder on the edge of the box, with his first drilled effort being cleared off the line by Rust, before the rebound was superbly tipped onto the post by an acrobatic Elliot Pride.

Cray were by far the better side as the game passed the 20 minute mark – with Frank Griffin drifting a delicious looking ball in that was just cleared away from the advancing Adrian Stone – before Wroxham looked to the left hand side again for some positive attacking play.

It came in the form of Finch, who was found in the inside left position with some space, the striker whipping the ball into the arriving Danny White, who could only place his header just wide of the right hand post.

This effort seemed to spur on The Yachtsmen – with Finch testing Gardikiotis with a left-footed drive from just outside the box on 28 minutes – before Cray again began to gain the ascendancy over a tired looking Wroxham.

Pride was lucky to get away with a spilled save from Steve Springitt’s 33rd minute effort as the ball squirted out invitingly to the waiting Orlando Smith, with the Wroxham ‘keeper seemingly going through the striker to get to the ball.

Warren Whitely was the next to have an effort on the Wroxham goal, the midfielder chesting down a ball in from the right on the run before sending a dangerous looking drive at goal, only for it to fly wide.

The Wands were again looking the more likely early in the second half as they continued to press the Wroxham back four, substitute Alex Teniola almost getting in just 30 seconds after the restart after a long ball forward but his chance was snuffed out by Matt Halliday.

The forward then had a curling effort from the edge of the box that went just over Pride’s crossbar as they continued to push for a second, with wayward efforts from White and David Hinton the best The Yachtsmen could produce.

Wroxham needed a reaction, and they almost got it just before the hour mark as they stretched the Cray defence for the first time in the game.

It was the left hand side again that almost prove fruitful, with Jamie Forshaw finding space before driving in a low strike that hit the post and rebounded to Finch, who’s follow up was saved well by Gardiokidis.

This seemed to be the catalyst for the hosts to push on – with Larter’s men finally committing bodies forward in search of a way back into it – and they turned the game completely on its head with two goals in the space of 90 seconds.

The first one came out of nothing, with a long ball pumped forward to Christy Finch on the edge of the box, the striker holding up well before dinking the ball past the onrushing ‘keeper, with Gordon beating the covering defender to smash home on the line.

Gordon then tested Gardikiotis’ flexibility with a looping effort that the ‘keeper tipped over superbly, before they completed the remarkable turn around moments later as Nathan Stone this time benefitted from some Finch set up play.

The Wroxham top-scorer pulled to the back post to collect a Gordon ball in and drive across the box, finding Stone waiting under the bar to tap home and make it 2-1 to the home side.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of a Cray side that up until that point had arguably dominated proceedings, although The Yachtsmen were unable to kill off their opponents.

This gave them the chance to look for a response, and they almost snatched what would have been a fully deserved point in the 90th minute, Teniola toe-poking well wide when through on goal after turning Andy Howell on the edge of the box.

And another chance went begging deep into injury time as Smith produced some inspired acrobatics on the edge of the box, his scissor-kick testing a fully outstretched Pride, who managed to tip wide and help Wroxham over the line.

Wroxham: Pride, Taylor, Rust, Hinton, Howell, Halliday, Swatman (Stone 60’), White, Forshaw (Garrod 81’), Finch (King 90’), Gordon

Unused Subs: Guyton, Price

Cray: Gardikiotis, Griffin (Ashikodi 75’), Simpson, Fakinos, Humphrey, Springitt, Whitely (Teniola 45’), Piper, Stone (Gardikiotis 69’), Smith, Hill

Unused Subs: Ives

Attendance: 98

Referee: Adrian Sannerude