Herne Bay: George Kamurasi, Ryan Cooper, Mohamed Kamara, Laurence Harvey,
Dan Johnson, Tom Carlton, Tushaun-Tyreese Walters, Zak Ansah, Mobolaji Dawodu,
Jordan Hibbett, Bradley Stevenson
Subs Used: Dean Grant (Hibbett 62) Tyler Stirling (Cooper 78)
Subs Not Used: Dan Colmer Dan Lawrence, Dan Carrington

Were we unlucky, or robbed? Was it a penalty? Most definitely, but to have that denied and then Hitchin break away and score their third was a real kick in the teeth.
Hitchin started very strongly pinning Bay in their own penalty area for the first 5 minutes but with our first advance into their half, Bradley heads over the bar from a TT cross. This was followed by a slick passing move down the left flank with DJ crossing into the box, chested down by Jordan, back to Zak, whose low shot beats keeper, Horlock at the near post. Flush with this success Bradley races though but a strong challenge sees the ball go out for a corner.

The hosts started to settle down and pressed for the equalizer; playing slick, quick passing football their star man, super quick Callum Stead, makes the most of a defensive mix up between Laurence and Mo, but fires his effort wide of the target. This was the first warning of the danger posed by this forward. Another mistake at the back allows Barker to fire a shot at goal but a good blocking interception leads to a corner. Bradley goes on a mazy run, fending off three tackles before shooting but Horlock saves well. Bay were looking good. Bola heads over after DJ headed back across the goal from a well-placed free-kick from Tom. Hitchin drew level after a cross-field found defender, Akubuine completely free on the right. His inch-perfect pass, through the backline, put Stead in the box and his low cross was deflected over the line by Laurence. With only minutes on the clock before half time, Bola just fails to get good contact on a loose ball and his effort goes just wide of the upright.

Bay went behind three minutes after the restart. A quick build-up and a clever flick over the defence straight into the path of Alex Marsh to advance one on one with George, go round him and stroke the ball from the centre back and the ball goes out for a corner. Three minutes later TT goes through and another good tackle prevents his effort reaching the target. Bola puts Coops away down the right, but his shot goes wide. Hitchin were relying on the breakaway to counter-attack and Stead’s speed was causing problems every time he chased down a ball. Then the moment the course of the game changed. TT made one of his clever runs into the box and was unceremoniously bundled off the ball but despite the protests from, virtually, every Bay player, the referee was unmoved. Straight from the restart a long punt up-field. George came out of his goal, but instead of booting the ball out of the ground, he tried to jink his way around Stead, but Stead, nicked the ball and raced away and coolly stroked the ball home.

Bay then threw everything into attack in the last minutes of the game; Deano heads back across the goal, DJ volleys over the bar. Tyler drives a rocket free-kick, from the edge of the box, which Horlock saved well, and he again from a fine volley from Mo. TT cuts in from the left and his shot was kept out of the top corner, deflecting off the full-backs head. Another fierce drive from Tom and Horlock, with a diving save, smothers the ball. So many goal attempts all of which on another day would have resulted in a goal, but today we just did not have the lady luck or the referee on our side.