Unbeaten Run Continues

South Park (0) 0

Herne Bay (0) 2
Sam Hasler 62
Danny Walder 67 (pen)

at Whithall Lane

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Tuesday 10th March 2015.

Attendance: 46

by Ray Kelly

(photo credit: MoM Steven Ita – HBFC library photo.)

Herne Bay travelled to Whitehall Lane on Tuesday night in what was Sam Denly’s 100 match as Manager of Herne Bay. “I didn’t know it was my 100th until 5 minutes before kick-off, really pleased”, said Bay Manager Sam Denly, “good win, good performance, a good day all round.”

This win against South Park set up a club record of 10 undefeated games in the Ryman League. The match started with both teams sounding each other out, the long ball by Park and the short passing game from Bay.

It wasn’t long before Herne bay started to get on top with the tricky Steven Ita causing all sorts of problems for the home defence but the first chance fell to South Park’s Chris Smith when he fired in a stinging free kick from thirty yards that Jack Delo did well to hang on to. On 15 minutes Steven Ita had a great run through the Park defence but his final effort was well saved by James Wastell who pushed his shot round the post. From the resulting corner Danny Williams received a very nasty looking foot injury and after a few minutes he had to leave the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Joe Nelder.

Bay continued to plug away at the South Park defence and on the half hour Steven Ita appeared to be brought down in the area but the referee waived play on. 5 minutes later, Dan Johnson (who was having his best game in a Bay shirt) surged down the left and crossed to Joe Nelder but a superb save from Westell, prevented the visitors going ahead. In the final 10 minutes of the first half both teams had chances with Chris Smith and Dale Burgess close for South Park and Joe Nelder missing out on a couple of good chances for the Bay.

Herne Bay raised their game in the second half and started to dictate the play. With the Bay back four outstanding, Liam Quinn pushed his side up at every opportunity and this gave Steven Ita the freedom to turn the Parks’ full backs inside out attacking down the left. On 57 minutes only a great double save from Westell prevented Bay taking the lead. Just on the hour mark, South Park could have taken the lead themselves when Dale Burgess blazed over from 10 yards with an empty net in front of him.

This spurred Herne Bay on and within a minute Sam Hasler fired the opener, after some great Inter-play between Mark Lovell and Steven Ita who laid the ball back to Hasler to thump in from 20 yards out Bay. Steven Ita was constantly running at the South Park defence and it was no surprise that on 67 minutes he was upended in the penalty area and this time the referee pointed to the spot. Danny Walder made no mistake with his penalty.

This was a superb all round performance from Bay. It was hard to pick out a Man of the Match with so many players in peak form. Liam Quin, Gary Sayer and Dan Johnson were all worthy candidates but young Steven Ita just shaded it. He was fantastic at times.

“A real professional performance, we were patient and had a lot more quality about us and the guys are working hard for each other”, said Denly, “we’re fifth for a reason and, yes there’s been a few jokes about nose bleeds but we’re good enough. We’re fifth on merit, we’ve got a chance of the play-offs, Burgess Hill on Saturday is a massive game. We are two in-form teams, top of the form table, it makes for a great game, it’s a game we want to be part of and we’re looking forward to it”.

Cautions: Nathan Eastwood, Mark Lovell, Steven Ita

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Nathan Eastwood (Dan Bent 68), Danny Walder, Danny Williams (Joe Nelder 17), Steven Ita, Mark Lovell, Sam Hasler (Jordan Casey 73)

Subs Not used: James Turner, Harry Brown.

Man of the Match: Steven Ita