Casuals Crushed

Herne Bay (1) 3
Hasler 34, 86
King 48

Walton Casuals (1) 1
Odunaike 12

at Winch’s Field

Attendance: 168

by Ray Kelly

(Photo credit: Steve Barton – Sam Hasler fires home Herne Bay’s third)

Herne Bay were made to work hard for this 3-1 victory over a well organised Walton Casuals side. They were forced to make five changes to the team that defeated Hythe Town in mid week due to injuries and non availability and for the first half hour it showed.

The first chance fell to Jordan Casey who latched on to a long ball but his effort went well wide. A minute later the Stags should have taken the lead when the young Bay keeper, Ben Kitcherside, failed to hold on to the ball but Gabriel Odunaike’s shot was cleared off the goal line by Liam Quinn.
With the game going from end to end Stuart King forced a corner for the Bay, a short ball to Joe
Nelder who thumped the ball goalwards only to see a great save from the Casuals custodian Luke
Badiali. On 12 minutes Walton Casuals took the lead when Odunaike lobbed the ball over an advancing Kitcherside .

The Walton side continued to put pressure on the Bay with Tunde Dixon at the centre of most of
the moves. Good chances fell to Scott Day and Liam Flanighan but Kitcherside saved well both
times. In the 25th/26th minutes Ben Brown fired over from free kicks 30 yards out, rather wastefully. Kitcherside then came to Bay’s rescue with a great point blank save from Day and Casuals’ Connor French shot over from 3 yards. Gary Sayer left the field injured in the 30th minute and was replaced by Sam Hasler. Herne Bay started to get back in the game and on 33 minutes following some tricky footwork from Stuart King who found Sam Hasler who in turn hammered home from 25 yards giving Badiali no chance. Hasler and King both went close before the half time whistle went.

A rejuvenated Bay side started the second half well on top and with only 3 minutes on the clock
Jordan Casey played a good through ball to King and he made no mistake in slotting past the keeper to put the bay in front. Walton Casuals hit back and on 55 minutes Kitcherside denied French with a superb save and two minutes later Day saw his effort rebound off of the crossbar.

On the hour, Sam Denly replaced Ben Brown with Sam Staunton and Casuals’ manager Mark Hams withdrew Flanighan for Josh Cover. This move worked for the Walton side as they began to push Herne Bay deep in search of an equaliser. Bay started to come under pressure with too many passes going astray and on 75 minutes Jordan Casey gave way for Kane Butler and this made an immediate impact with Butler causing problems for the Casuals defence. On 85 minutes, following a mazy run, he laid off a great ball into the path of Hasler who fired in a thunder bolt past the hapless
Walton keeper.

Herne Bay could have scored again but King’s fierce drive was well saved by Badiali. Walton Casuals forced two late corners but could not convert. This win shows that Herne Bay have strength in depth which must be pleasing for Sam Denly.

Herne Bay: Ben Kitcherside, Dan Johnson, Gary Sayer (Sam Hasler 30), Joe Nelder, Liam Quinn, Nathan Eastwood, Elliot Cutts, Ben Brown (Sam Staunton 65), Stuart King, Jordan Casey (Kane Butler 75), Stephen Ita.

Subs Not Used: Danny Walder, James Brown.

Man of the Match: Sam Hasler