It Could Have Been Twelve!

Herne Bay Ladies (0) 3
Chapman 49
Tulett 71, 78

Burgess Hill Town Ladies (0) 0

at Winch’s Field

South East Counties Womens Football League (Premier Division)
Sunday 21st September 2014.

Attendance: 51

by Peter Guise

(photo credit: Steve Barton - Tizzii Tulett turns away after scoring her second goal.)

At times the performance lacked its usual cohesiveness but, in truth, Sarah Cooper had little to do in goal and had a bucket load of chances not been denied by Hillians ‘keeper, Tracey Smith, in the first half, Bay would have run up a cricket score.

Chapman, Foster, Farrow and Holness had numerous chances in the opening period and Victoria Holness even had a goal disallowed for offside in the 24th when she appeared to run onto a side pass from Harriet Chapman. Just before the break Sarah Homes put in a pin point cross only for Chapman to head the ball over the bar.

After the interval Bay dominated and made more of their chances. Finally, the deadlock was broken 4 minutes into the second half when Harriett Chapman eluded the Burgess Hill back line, rammed home from 8 yards, and glanced to the touchline to make sure the assistant referee’s flag had not been raised before celebrating. She might have made it 2 nil in the 68th after threaded her way through on the left but her shot struck the outside of the visitors’ right hand post. Soon after, Holness suffered a blow on the back of the head and was replaced by Isabella Tulett who seized her chance to shine. Driving the ball home in the 71st minute to double the Bay’s advantage, she tripled it 7 minutes later when she reacted quickly to her first shot being parried by Smith, tucking the rebound into an empty net. She almost grabbed a hat-trick in stoppage time but was denied by a combination of ‘keeper and left hand upright.

Herne Bay Ladies maintained their 100% winning start to the season; their first at this level. Manager Anthony Deer tweeted, “How we ever only scored three goals today remains a mystery but 3 pts and a clean sheet!”

Herne Bay Ladies Match Squad: Sarah Cooper, Emma Brown, Rachel Tracey, Beth Nugent, Debbie Blackmore, Carly Farrow, Kayleigh Mount, Sarah Holmes, Kate Foster, Victoria Holness, Harriett Chapman, Isbella Tulett, Bella Smith, Ashley Bantiges, Emily Brown, Nicola Harris.

Herne Bay Player of the Match: Kate Foster

Referee: Ryan Cole

Deery’s thoughts on the game:

It is difficult to describe the first half of today’s match, as after the normal settling down period Herne Bay ladies dominated proceedings. If we came in half time at least eight goals up it wouldn’t be too far from how the game went. I lost count of the number of decent chances we had, with a combination of bad finishing, wrong choices or excellent saves from the Burgess Hill goalkeeper we just couldn’t find a way to open the scoring. At the other end, Burgess Hill just didn’t look like scoring, reverting to hopeful long range efforts that really didn’t threaten Sarah Cooper. That’s not to say that we didn’t play badly, we just couldn’t find that final touch to put this game away early on. The message at half time was to not panic, don’t get frustrated and continue to create the chances and eventually it will pay off.

In the end three goals scored and a second clean sheet in a row, shows that this team, which is getting stronger, is finding their feet after the slowish start to the season. We won’t get carried away with ourselves as we know from previous experiences that we can’t let off the gas, as teams won’t give us an inch and will always be trying to stop us. But three points is three points! Played four won four is a dream start to the season but we turn our attention to the Women’s FA Cup next week when we host Anchorians, who are in our league, at Winch’s Field 2:00pm KO. We will enjoy the moment now but prepare for the next game like any other. Success can be achieved again as long as we take each game as it comes.