Casuals own goals sink Corinthians

Corinthian Casuals (0) 1
Sekou Kaba 62

Herne Bay (0) 2
Ben King og 61
Danny Bracken og 78

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Saturday 17th October 2015
at King George's Field

(photo credit: Steve Barton - Bay open the scoring)

Ray Kelly writes, Having drawn their last two league fixtures, Herne Bay moved up to 8th place in the league table with this awayday victory against Corinthian Casuals and put themselves within 3 points of the play off positions on a day that saw both the top two lose (Corinthian Casuals had been 2nd).

Herne Bay traveled to the King Georges Arena on Saturday to play League Pacesetters Corinthian Casuals and returned home with 3 points thanks to 2 own goals, a superb defensive performance and a top draw goalkeeping exhibition from Jack Delo.
Once again Liam Quinn led his defence from the front and the whole team played their part in this win. The only downer to the day was the serious looking eye injury to Giorgio Russo who was taken to hospital.

For the first 15 minutes both teams examined each others defences , with the speed and skill of the Casuals' Juevan Spencer looking very dangerous and Herne Bay’s Elliot Cutts and James Turner making inroads into the Casuals defence. The first real chance fell to the Casuals on 16 minutes when Jack Delo cleared from Juevan Spencer solo run. Two minutes later following a Danny Walder corner, Connor Sanders headed wide when well placed.

With the game going end to end , the Casuals went close again when Terry Murrey let rip from 25 yards only to see his shot skim the crossbar. At the other end Frannie Colin fired just wide following a free kick. Nathan Eastwood replaced Giorgio Russo in the 35th minute due to a nasty eye injury, he was taken to hospital.

In the 36th. minute Corinthian Casuals forced a corner , Josh Uzan’s kick was headed over the bar and a couple of minutes later a Juevan Spencer shot was cleared of the line by Gary Sayer.

Herne Bay started the second half on the front foot and within two minutes Danny Williams played in Danny Walder but his shot was deflected off the home defence and away to safety. In the 50th. minute Emmanual Akokhia should have put the home side in front when he picked up a long ball and raced through the Bay defence with only Jack Delo to beat but Jack saved superbly at his feet.
Herne Bay were being pegged back for long periods and further chances fell to Akokhia and Secou Kaba but Jack Delo dealt with them well.

Against the run of play the Bay took the lead in the 61st minute when some cleaver work from Elliot Cutts found Dan Johnson who crossed to find James Turner who bundled the ball goalwards and scored off of the Casuals full back Ben King. Within 30 seconds the Casuals had levelled the game when Kevant Sebony rounded the Bay defence and played in Secou Kaba who had the easy task of side footing the ball in.

On 78 minutes Herne Bay went in front when Danny Walder picked up a long ball and sent over a high cross that Danny Bracken could only palm into his own Net. The final 10 minutes belonged to Jack Delo who made save after save preventing Akokhia, Spencer and Uzun from squaring the match.

At the final whistle Herne Bay were applauded off by both sets of fans. The Bay deserved this win with a good all round team performance against a team that had won 7 out of there last 8 games.

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Georgio Russo (Nathan Eastwood 35), Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Connor Sanders, Danny Walder, Danny Williams, Frannie Collin, Elliot Cutts (Steven Ita 67), James Turner (Mark Lovell 75).

Subs not used: Joe Nelder, Harry Brown.

Man of the Match: Jack Delo