Herne Bay Ladies 11 Gravesham Ladies 2

Report by Anthony Deer

Once again we found ourselves to the bare bones today with only 11 players available, with illness spreading throughout the squad in the last week or so, no less than 6 players were unavailable and three players that played today were not 100% well, however, we are a relentless team that won’t let small things come in between us and our successes. Gravesham are currently bottom of the league without a point to their name, but the enthusiasm and the continue battle to play games is impressive. We have played Gravesham at their place and were comfortable winners winning 16 – 0. However, with the amount of sick absentees today it could have gone either way, but like I said, we are relentless and have depth of good quality players within the squad that will always work hard in the most extreme circumstances.

The game started off well, with some good passing and great movement from the wide players and the two up front and it wasn’t long before we created our first chance ,from this point onwards it was mainly all one way traffic. Lesley Kay finally undid the deadlock after 10 minutes, from here we peppered the Gravesham goal, but with little success, either the goalkeeper made a save, it went wide or over or it hit the woodwork. But we continued to press and were rewarded by a second goal from Vicky Holness. Because we were on the attack for most of the half and committing players forward, Gravesham were reduced to long clearances, with one eventually getting to their only forward player who was fouled just outside the box, the resulting kick was fiercely struck and hit the underside of the bar and nestled in the back of the net. A shot that no goalkeeper would have saved! From here we pushed on and within minutes we regained our two goal advantage with a goal from Charlie Hayes, cutting in from the wing and hitting a shot that went through the keeper’s legs. Vicky then added a fourth and fifth goal before the break.

The second half started the same way we finished the first half, with chances galore and once again it didn’t take long to extend the lead. Vicky Holness added to her total by scoring the sixth of the game! Gravesham then once again had a long clearance out wide, which their player crossed the ball into the box, a hint of handball went unnoticed by the referee and we found ourselves conceding our second goal of the game. This was the last effort from Gravesham as we then battered their goal with a few missed chances again but Rachel Tracy, Shona Clark, Natalie Lewis and Vicky Holness scoring another two added to our final total. Another all round performance from everyone in difficult circumstances, however, today’s player of the match was Lesley Kay, a good finish for the first goal, could have scored a few more but it wasn’t to be, a range of passing from simple 5 yard link up play to 40 yard cross field balls, some tricks and flicks at the right time created chance after chance for the forward players.

The last game of 2012 is next week to Teynham Gunners in the 2nd Round of the Kent Plate; the winners will meet either, Thanet Colts or Aylesford 1st away in the Quarter Finals.

Sunday 16th December 2012 will see our ladies play their first game at Winch’s Field (dependant on the weather) with a 1:30pm Kick Off.

Team: Jo Franks, Charlie Hayes, Rachel Tracy, Chantelle Bleau, Clare Brown, Shona Clark, Natalie Lewis, Lesley Kay, Lauren Wiltshire, Vicky Holness, Alice Franks

Player of Match: Lesley Kay