Bay home win moves us up to 14th

RYMAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
DIVISION ONE SOUTH
HERNE BAY 1-0 EASTBOURNE TOWN
Wednesday 10th April 2013

Herne Bay eased their relegation worries Wednesday night with a well deserved 1-0 win over mid-table Eastbourne Town. After a dour and uninspiring first half they took the battle to Eastbourne and were rewarded with a superb James Turner goal half way through the second half.

Eastbourne pegged Bay back for the first 20 minutes with Danny Curd and Ross Treveven being a constant threat. After only 4 minutes Calum McGeehan headed off the line to deny Dan Bolwell. Nathan Eastwood and McGeehan both prevented Eastbourne’s advances with last ditch clearances.

Our first meaningful attack came after 20 minutes, Byron Walker out paced the defence before lobbing keeper, Josh Pelling only to see his effort bounce off the right hand post and back into Pellings arms.
The game became concentrated in the mid field with both teams huffing and puffing but with no end product, apart from a couple of goal mouth scrambles, and a good save from Luke Prentice, superbly tipping over a shot from Matt Crabb. Half time came with neither team looking like breaking the deadlock.

The Old Herne Bay came out for the second half; battling for every ball and within the first 5 minutes both Michael Turner and Dean Grant went close. Walker was brought down on the edge of the box and from the resulting free kick McGeehan fired just past the post.

Eastwood, injured from a clumsy tackle, was replaced by Gary Sayer.
On 58 minutes the breakthrough came following a great run by Walker. Guiding a defence splitting pass through to James Turner who made no mistake, drilling his shot past Pelling.

This breakthrough brought the best out of The Bay, playing and passing the ball with great effect. Joe Nelder and Billy Bennett both had good efforts cleared by the under pressure Eastbourne defence. Crabb forced Prentice to saved well from a header in a rare Town attack.
Grant was replaced by Jordan Agbajae and received a great round of applause for a good nights work.

With 10 minutes remaining Bay were well in control. Walker was brought down 30 yards out but Tom Bryant's free kick kept out by Pelling.
Ben Brown then replaced James Turner for the last 5 minutes. Then Walker made a driving run through Town's defence and fired in a tremendous volley which unfortunately sailed inches over the bar.

In added time Eastbourne pressed forwarded looking for the equaliser and were nearly rewarded following a foul by McGeehan on the edge of the box but Crabb's shot was well saved by Prentice.

Bay fully deserved the points, the second half effort and commitment was superb and the build up for the goal delightful.

Att: 131

Team: Prentice, Eastwood, Bryant, McGeehan, Campbell, Nelder, M Turner, Bennett, Walker, J Turner, Grant
Subs Used: Sayer (Eastwood 56 mins) Agbajae (Grant 75 mins) Brown (J Turner)
Not used: Lloyd, Taylor