Bay Make History

Hythe Town (0) 1
Conlon 90

Herne Bay (1) 2
King 13, 64

at Reachfields

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Saturday 29th November 2014.

Attendance: 210

by Ray Kelly

(photo credit: Steve Barton – Stuart King pounces for his first goal.)

Hythe Town came down to earth with a bump after their midweek demolition of Guernsey whilst Herne Bay strode to their fourth consecutive league victory, a club record in the Ryman Isthmian League.

“History? Is it really? I didn’t know that”, said Bay manager Sam Denly, “listen! We were excellent today, it really should have been 2-0 (not 2-1). We are where we are on merit”.

Two Stuart King goals gave Bay their fourth league win on the trot against Hythe Town at Reachfields, giving the Bay sixth place in the Ryman League South. Herne Bay fully deserved this 2-1 win in a game they dominated for long periods. It was Hythe that had the first chance in the opening minutes when Jack Delo had to dive at the feet of Craig Thompson. With the play going from end to end in the opening 15 minutes both Thompson and Josh Walker went close for Hythe and the same can be said for the Bay’s Dan Parkinson and Danny Walder but on 13 minutes following a Sam Hasler free kick the Hythe ‘keeper Roddy Haywood fumbled his kick and Stuart King followed up to poke the ball past him.

Another chance fell to Danny Williams and once again Haywood could not hold the ball and in attempting to regather the ball he brought down Williams and the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Stuart King but he fired the penalty high and wide. With Bay in full cry further chances fell to King and Hasler but they were thwarted by good defending from Laurence Harvey and Phil Stevenson. In the 36th minute Ashley Miller came close to levelling with a shot that Jack Delo saved with his feet.

The second half started with a rejuvenated Hythe Town and from the kick off Josh Burchell went close and only a good clearing punch from Delo prevented an equaliser. The game started to get tetchy with Burchell and Hasler being booked by the referee. On 58 minutes Sam Hasler went on a run down the left and sent over a good cross but King and Williams failed to connect. Herne Bay doubled the lead on 64 minutes when Danny Walder found Stuart King on the far left and from the bye line Stuart King curled in a shot from the most acute angle, surely the goal of the season.

On 75 minutes both teams made substitutions with Hythe taking off Lewis Mingle for Ryan Philpott and Herne Bay replacing Dan Parkinson with Ben Brown. In the 84th minute King had a great chance for a hat trick but his effort just went wide. More substitutions were made with Nahant Eastwood replacing Sam Hasler for the Bay and Henry Pilcher coming on for Ashley Miller. With a minute left on the clock Sam Conlon pulled a goal back when he fired in a cross come shot that deceived the entire Bay defence and nestled in the back of the net. At the final whistle Herne Bay were well worth these three points and now sit in sixth place in the League.

Denly was delighted and buoyant as one might expect from a manager that has seen his side growing together as a team. “I said a while ago that I thought we were getting there as a team,” said Denly, “we’ve gone sixth in the league now but this year is about consolidation again, it’s a very tight league this year and we are doing well. I’m not going to get carried away, we have some tough games coming up.”

Herne Bay: Jack Delo , Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Dan Parkinson (Ben Brown 77), Danny Walder, Joe Nelder, Danny Williams, Stuart King (Harry Brown 90), Sam Hasler (Nathan Eastwood 86).

Subs Not Used: Steven Ita, James Brown.

Cautions: Sam Hasler Sent Off: None

Man of the Match: Stuart King (Herne Bay)