Last Gasp Equaliser Denies Bay

Bury Town (0) 1
Craig Nurse 90

Herne Bay (0) 1
Liam Quinn 47

Attendance: 316

FA Trophy 2nd Round Qualifying
Saturday 14th November 2015.
(at Ram Meadow)

(photo credit: Steve Barton)

Liam Quinn’s goal just after the break looked to have secured safe passage for Herne Bay into the final qualifying round of the FA Trophy, and the dismissal of the home ‘keeper at the death seemed to have sealed it. But Craig Nurse, who took the goalie’s jersey came up for a set piece deep into stoppage time and applied the bandage over Bury’s wounds.

Ray Kelly writes: A bizarre goal in time added on cost Herne Bay a place in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy at the first time of asking. Bury Town must now travel to Herne Bay for the replay after this unlikely 1-1 draw at the Ram Meadow Stadium.

Herne Bay turned in a cracking performance, on a very sticky pitch, against a Bury Town side that relied on the long ball game but what a superb game it turned out to be. For the first 10 minutes both teams tested each other out, with Bury’s Remi Garrett being the first to test Herne Bay’s ‘keeper Jack Delo in the 5th minute and Sam Hasler going close for the Bay in the 7/8th minutes. On 15 minutes Dan Johnson combined well with Elliot Cutts but his effort was well collected by the Bury custodian Neil O’Sullivan.

In the 28th minute Gary Sayer was on hand to head clear a Remi Garrett attempt off the goal line. Throughout the first half Darcy De’ath produced long throw-ins that kept the Bay defence on their toes with Jack Delo punching clear any danger.

In the 40th minute a great save from O’Sullivan in the Bury goal thwarted Sam Hasler after a powerful shot from the edge of the box and further half chances fell to and Mark Lovell before the half-time whistle.

The second half was only 2 minutes old when Herne Bay went ahead, following a good shot from Sam Hasler, the Bury keeper turned the ball out for a corner, the resulting kick was headed in by Liam Quinn. With this goal Bay started to dominate the game as they went in search of another goal, forcing Bury Town back in their own half.

The home team Manager Ben Chenery brought off Sam Reid in favour of Dan Hammett in the 50th minute. Sam Hasler then went close with only a last ditch clearance from John Kennedy prevented the Bay from doubling the lead. With Herne Bay dominating the play Chenery withdrew Kennedy and put on Cameron Nichols on 55 minutes.

Michael Turner continued to put pressure on Bury down the right and on 70 minutes he played in Sam Hasler who fired in from 20 yards but his effort was cleared off the line by Phil Weavers. On 71 minutes Bay Manager made a double change bringing on James Turner and Kane Phillip for Joe Nelder and Elliot Cutts and 6 minutes later Danny Williams came on for Mark Lovell.

Bury Town began to push forward and half chances fell to Craig Nurse and Mat Collins but the Herne Bay defence remained solid. With time running out for Bury Town they lost goalkeeper Neil O’Sullivan, sent off for a hand ball out-side the penalty area. He was replaced by Craig Nurse.

With only 20 seconds left on the clock a free kick from 30 yards was saved by Jack Delo and a disputed corner was given to Bury. The resulting kick was not cleared by the Bay defence and the sub keeper, Nurse, who had raced up the field and into the Herne Bay penalty area lunged forward and scooped the ball into the Bay’s net.

From the restart the referee Mr. David Avent blew for time. This was a very good performance from the Bay side but they must do it all over again on Tuesday night. All in all the Bay were unlucky not to come away with a victory that they fully deserved. But that’s football for you.

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Nathan Eastwood, Danny Walder, Joe Nelder (James Turner 70), Mark Lovell (Danny Williams 79), Elliott Cutts (Kane Phillip 70), Sam Hasler.

Subs not used: Steven Ita, Georgio Russo.

Sent Off: none Cautioned: none

Referee: David Avent Assistants: Luke Scott & Abdul Kadir

Man of the Match: Michael Turner