Great turn out at the Bay

A year to the day that Herne Bay had returned from Mayplace Road after beating a second-string Phoenix Sports 6-1 in the Kent Senior Cup. The previous season Bay had lost twice to Sports and last campaign there were two disastrous results, 2-4 at Winch’s Field and 2-5 at Phoenix. Sports may well have visited the Kent Vehicles Stadium after four consecutive victories over the home side feeling very confident. But Herne Bay have risen, not quite from the ashes, but were very near to ignition at the end of last season.

Laurence Harvey returned from holiday to replace George Crimmen and put in a Man of the Match performance. Simon Kabamba came in for Michael Turner and Tushaun Tyreece-Walters and Jordan Johnson-Palmer started ahead of Joe Nelder and Kyron Lightfoot who both dropped to the bench. Bay took time to settle although Ryan King-Elliott was first to test a keeper on 8 minutes. The opening exchanges were reminiscent of Whyteleafe as Phoenix attacked down the wings with Kenny Alireu and Jeff Duah-Kessie, who caused chaos within the Bay defence back in April, looking dangerous but were kept in check by the home defence.

In the 26th minute Ricky Freeman chased down the goalkeeper Steve Phillips, but the stopper just managed to clear. Five minutes later Phoenix broke the deadlock in unfortunate circumstances. The solid Gary Sayer over hit his back pass and Jake Batchelor could only watch as the ball nestled in the back of the net. A minute before half-time Zak Ansah showed why his is one of the best strikers in the league when he collected a measured through ball from Jordan Johnson-Palmer, steadied himself and beat Phillips in style.

The second period was a completely different matter. Within two minutes of the re-start Ansah had his strike saved and just after the hour Ricky Freeman scored his first for the Club and celebrated ecstatically in front of the few visiting fans who had been given him stick. The attendance had been announced as 324 and the superb noise generated from the home fans spurred Bay on. In the 84th minute Ryan King-Elliott was tripped in the box and up stepped Ansah to net his second penalty in two games. The score could have been more and there was still time for both Ansah and Kyron Lightfoot to rattle the woodwork.

A superb attacking performance and an amazing atmosphere at the Field of Dreams.

Ben Smith: “I was thoroughly impressed by the squad performance. The first half showed the team still gelling, it was patchy with some great stuff interspersed with some poor stuff. Second half we grew in fantastic character and were exciting and dangerous every time we went forward. I was really pleased with the win. I would like to thank the supporters who were magnificent. Together we can make Winch’s Field a fortress for opponents who will fear their visit.”

Herne Bay: Jake Batchelor, Simon Kabamba, Malachi Robinson, Laurence Harvey, Gary Sayer, Danny Lawrence, Ryan King-Elliott (Kyron Lightfoot), Jordan Johnson-Palmer, Zak Ansah, Ricky Freeman (Luke Griffiths), Tushaun Tyreece-Walters (Joe Nelder).

Match Sponsor : Matt's Cutting Room
Match Ball Sponsor : Graham's Property Services