Thanet Colts Ladies 1 Herne Bay Ladies 0

Photo Steve Barton

Report by Anthony Deer

It’s never easy writing a match report after losing a game of football, but our 100% record has now finished. We had a couple of players missing but that is not the reason we lost this game today, I actually can’t put my finger on why we didn’t secure the three points as all the girls played well, did their jobs when required and pressed and never gave up even to the final whistle. But credit is due to Thanet Colts who defended resiliently and had the luck of the green today when balls were won all over the pitch. Also they knew that Vicky Holness was our danger player and marked her with two players as much as they could. However, for those who witnessed this game, it was a game of spurned chances galore by our ladies team.

The first half saw the ladies shoot up the hill with the sun glaring into our player’s eyes and this was advantage for Thanet Colts who caused a few problems for our defenders who dealt with most balls over the top with some vital clearances at the right time. Only one of the three chances that Thanet Colts had in the first half caused any real problems and with the ball falling to the feet of their striker after a tackle from two of our defenders, a shot went in and into the goal.

From here the ladies pushed on and were unfortunate on numerous occasions not to equalise, three shots at the keeper, two wide and a couple of one on ones, but alas we couldn’t get the goal needed.
The half time team talk was about belief and the giving the confidence to go and win the game and this showed once again with the amount of chances had from a selection of players, the closest from Emma Brown who managed to hit both posts with the same shot.

Thanet Colts had their fourth and final chance of the game around the 50th minute of the game with Emily Johnson recovered quickly after slipping before making the save. From here the time was counting down and we pushed and we pushed, creating chance after chance but yet that crucial goal eluded us. Thanet Colt’s goalkeeper, their player of the match, had one of those days that everything that came towards her was saved by every part of her body, the ball seemed to land straight into her hands from the numerous corners we were awarded and the luck of the bounce when the ball was played over the top.

We pushed as many players forward as possible for the final 20 minutes and had a dozen or so very good chances to score not only the equaliser but to win the game. However, today wasn’t our day and we will regroup and push on.

Seeing the disappointment and frustration on the ladies faces at the end of the match showed me that they want to do extremely well for Herne Bay FC, and they want to succeed. It was always going to difficult to maintain a 100% record but the girls now have to try and forget about today’s game and move on to next week’s Kent Plate away to Ridgewaye.

Team: Emily Johnson, Chantelle Bleau, Rachel Tracy, Enya Lynch, Charlie Hayes, Emma Brown, Lauren Wiltshire, Emily Hayward, Natalie Lewis, Vicky Holness, Shona Clark, Jo Franks, Clare Brown

Player of Match: Emily Hayward