Herne Bay Ladies March On

Eastbourne Ladies (0) 0

Herne Bay Ladies (0) 2
Tulett 57
Foster 90

at Eastbourne Sports Park

SECWFL League Cup Premier Division
Sunday 15th March 2015.

by Peter Guise

(photo credit: Peter Guise - Bay Ladies on the attack.)

A depleted Herne Bay Ladies squad made heavy going of this Premier Division fixture but remained on course for the League & League Cup double grabbing all three points making the 5 hour round trip to the Sussex seaside worthwhile. “Another three points along with another clean sheet”, said manager Anthony Deer, “Not pretty at times but I'll take 3 points however they come!”

Herne Bay Ladies were, once again, slow out of the blocks and struggled to get to grips with both an uneven pitch and the high defensive line deployed by Eastbourne. In fact, several times the home side held on the half way line to free kicks no more than 15 yards inside the Bay half. The championship chasing nerves might have been settled in the 18th minute but Vicky Holness stroked the ball wide from close range; a victim of a bobble no doubt.

After the turnaround, Bay forced the pace more with the slope and stiff breeze in their favour and sprung the offside trap more frequently although Tasha Mizen marshalled the Eastbourne defence to good effect and swept up most that her co-defenders didn’t deal with. Just before the hour mark, Carly Farrow slipped a ball through though that Isabella Tulett raced onto and tucked away to open the scoring despite the home ‘keeper diving to her left and getting a hand to the shot. Maybe, this would settle the nerves. Not at all. With 15 minutes to go Bay have their own ‘keeper to thank for keeping their slender advantage intact when she reached up and back to tip a goal-bound shot from Leanne Strudwick over the bar. She was called into action again minutes before the 90 minutes were up to charge out of goal to hack away a weak back-pass from Beth Nugent, just getting to the ball first as Eastbourne’s forwards scented an equaliser. Those saves preserved Cooper’s clean sheet record and the equally miserly record of only eight league goals conceded this season. Finally, Herne Bay put the game to bed and pocketed the points. In time added on, the hard working Kate Foster twisted and turned her way into the left hand side of the box and, with precision, flighted the ball, from a narrow angle, into the far corner.

It may well be that chasing a third successive promotion and further cup success is taking its toll for this was a below par performance from Herne Bay Ladies. Today, they got away with it, gained three valuable points and kept yet another clean sheet. The mark of champions some might say! There is no doubt that the playing surface negated the technical ability that this side has but there are tougher matches ahead for which they must be prepared if they are to continue their successful run.

Herne Bay Ladies Match Squad: Sarah Cooper, Emma Brown, Beth Nugent, Debbie Blackmore, Kate Foster, Carly Farrow, Kayleigh Mount, Emily Brown, Isabella Tulett, Vicky Holness, Rachel Tracy, Bella Smith.

Herne Bay Player of the Match: Kate Foster