Herne Bay: Jake Batchelor, Michael Turner, Malachi Robinson, George Crimmen, Gary Sayer,
Joe Nelder, Kyron Lightfoot, Danny Lawrence, Zak Ansah, Ricky Freeman, Ryan King–Elliott
Subs Used: Luke Griffiths ( Nelder 90 ) Tushaun Tyreece-Walters (Freeman 78)
Chris Saunders (Lightfoot 64 )
Subs not used: Simon Kabamba, Joe Kennett

In the words of Fagan in Oliver Twist ‘You’ve gotta pick a pocket or two’ and that is exactly what Herne Bay did today against a very fast and strong Whyteleafe side, but everybody put in a great shift and never gave up even when ‘leafe took the lead after 89 minutes of play. Winning a penalty three minutes into injury time enabled Bay to steal a point.
The home side dominated play for the majority of the game with Whyteleafe using the speed and skill of Antonio Walker-Barth and Renedi Masampu to feed ex –Bay favourite Ronald Sobowale who seemed to shoot every time he had sight of the bay goal. Fortunately Jake Batchelor pulled off two exceptional saves to thwart Sobowale in the first half and when Jake wasn’t able to save the crossbar came to his rescue.
One worthwhile attack in the first half and Bay were in front; Ryan King-Elliott raced clear down the right flank, cut in to the edge of the area, shaking off the challenges of two defenders before firing a low drive across the face of the goal. Ansah mis-timed his run into the box, being unable to make contact but Kyron Lightfoot was on hand to calmly drill the ball home to give Bay the lead totally against the run of play.
Walker-Barth missed a great opportunity to draw level, mis-directing his header, which went harmlessly wide of the target. Then the first controversial decision of the game; Batchelor adjudged to have fouled Martin Sontan and a penalty awarded. Sobowale placed the spot kick to the keeper’s left but Batchelor, incensed by the decision, pulled off a diving one-save to palm the ball away for a corner.
The second half followed in the same vein with Sobowale being the major threat and it was Sobowale who did eventually level the scores in the 75th minute, heading the ball down causing it bounce off the 3G surface over Batchelor.
The host’s were now on the front foot and pushed forward relentlessly. They eventually were rewarded when Bay lost possession in ‘leafe’s half; moving the ball quickly up to substitute Corrie Andrews who was left free to slide the ball under the keeper. Bay, then probably had their best spell of the game pushed forward seeking the equalizer. Into injury time and substitute, Chris Saunders took the ball into the penalty area where he was unceremoniously brought down giving the
referee no choice but to award a penalty.
Up stepped Ansah to send the keeper the wrong way to give Bay a share of the points.