Bay Blitz Casuals

Bay Blitz Casuals

Corinthian Casuals (0) 1
Boosey 65

Herne Bay (2) 4
Nelder 31, Hasler 45, Casey 73, 76

Attendance: 87

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Tuesday 5th November 2013.
King Georges Field

by Heinz Scribers

Herne Bay’s club historian, Doug Smith, will be trawling through the records to find the last time back to back 4 goal victories was achieved after Bay blitzed Corinthian Casuals on Tuesday evening in Surrey. Subsequent enquiries reveal that it was in November / December 2011. The difference being these four goals were all of the highest quality. You sometimes get one in a game but certainly not 4!

Sam Denly named an unchanged side, on the basis that if it isn’t broken don’t fix it, and his faith was rewarded with another four star display on a pitch passed fit for play at lunchtime and worked on throughout the afternoon by the groundstaff.

Joe Nelder opened the scoring for the Bay just after the half hour mark with a sublime lob volley from 25 yards, after nicking the ball off Sam Hasler as he was about to shoot. Hasler did make up for this by doubling the lead on the stroke of half time thanks to another superb strike from fully 35yards that rocketed past the keeper into the top corner. After the break Casuals came in search of a goal that would bring them back into the game and it duly arrived through Glen Boosey’s 65th minute effort. Casuals pressed for the equaliser and they thought they had got it when in a goal mouth melee the ball was fired home. Luckily for Bay the referee spotted an infringement much to the home sides’ dismay. This was a warning to Bay as they were defending too deep and being outplayed by lively Casuals forward line. Denly swapped his forward line bringing on Jordan Casey and Jamie O’Connell in place of James Turner and Stuart King and this transformed the game back in Herne Bay’s favour. Casey scored twice in three scorching minutes to propel Bay to 12th in the Ryman One South table. The first came about from a miss-kicked clearance from the ‘keeper that fell to Casey. Spotting the keeper was out of his goal he powered a low drive from 40 yards into the bottom corner. In the 76th minute he followed this with a thunderous power header from the edge of the area meeting Jamie O’Connell’s fantastic cross, made all the better by his determination to chase down the defender, and robbing him of the ball. O' Connell could have made it five after being put through and in his attempt to round the ‘keeper, after being put through one-on-one, his effort was brilliantly palmed away by the ‘keeper.

Bay were now cruising, prompting one Corinthian Casual observer to exclaim, “do you always score goals like that!” Next up for the Bay are table topping Walton Casuals who themselves have had something of a wobble in recent matches.

Despite the score, Casuals proved to be a very good side and dominated large passages of the game. Their passing was exceptional and the speed of their breaks caused many problems. Bay still defend by shooting the ball upfield only to find it coming straight back. If Casuals had had a decent striker it may well have been a different story. Bay cause teams problems when they attack but still look panicky when under pressure. The moral being attack is the best form of defence!

Herne Bay team: Jack Delo, Nathan Eastwood, Gary Sayer, Danny Walder, Connor Sanders, Joe Nelder (Dean Grant), Sam Hasler, James Turner (Jordan Casey), Stuart King (Jamie O’Connell), Michael Turner

Subs not used: Danny Lawrence, Steven Lloyd