It is hard to know what to expect from Whitstable. They are capable at times of some very creditable results, but also suffer some inexplicable losses and this inconsistency may be the reason they find themselves towards the bottom of the league. The Reserves though will have had on their mind their defeat by today’s opponents in last year’s Thanet Cup at the quarter final stage. We needed no reminding that the team we faced today can be dangerous opponents.

Therefore the pre-match news of the loss of influential skipper Simon Smith, forward Craig Thompson and centre-back Matt Betts was particularly a serious set back. These are three players who would be at home in any Division 1 team.

With Dan Eaton being unavailable and Ricky Hadlum having an emergency at home, it meant the visiting side had only one sub and manager Kidd duly kitted up, available in the event of injury. Fewer subs can add a sense of stability to the team and with a back five of Parker, Bates, Powell, Foad and Edwards there was a strong sense of familiarity too. In an effort to have a little more width in the team, HBVR opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Richard Fell ploughing a lone furrow up front with Munday, Sharp and Gilpin in behind him, the latter two charged with providing attacking width as well as having a watching brief on Whitstable’s wide men. Leigh Gilpin and Dave Close anchored the midfield in front of the quartet. That left on the bench Carvy who was feeling, as he announced prior to the match, in form and confident. In the absence of Simon Smith, today’s captain was Craig Gilpin in recognition of the fine performances he has been putting in for the last five or six games. His pre-match talk warned of the physical battle ahead and emphasised the importance of a strong start.

And Craig got the response he asked for as Herne Bay started the better of the sides. The surface that Whitstable choose to play on is unpredictable and borderline acceptable (probably one of the worst if not the worst in the league). Given that they have only take one point at home all season, it is clear they don’t enjoy it either. So the match saw the inevitable and repeated mis-controls and mis-hits but despite this Bay attempted to play the ball around. Such surfaces lend themselves to the occasional early direct ball, and one on 20 minutes from Munday saw Craig Sharp beat his man and fire into the side netting. An early warning for the home side. Five minutes later, Richard Fell from the right hand side tried a lofted ball to the far post that beat the keeper but drifted harmlessly wide.
Bay were clearly enjoying the majority of the possession and creating the better chances. Whitstable though were mounting the occasional attack, but nothing at this point that troubled Parkie with the notable exception of a snap shot by Barry Knowles that was heading into the bottom right hand corner that Parkie got down well to and tipped round for a corner.

Carvosso came on after 20 mins and continued the same excellent work down the right that Sharp had done in the opening spell. Confidence was building and on 42 mins the breakthrough came. Kev Edwards swung in a fabulous cross field ball to the edge of the area for Craig Gilpin who sprung the offside trap and, with the keeper stranded and out of position headed into the unguarded net from 12 metres out. Credit to the linesman who could easily have given what looked like a close call.

Only a minute later and Fell was rounding the keeper on the byline to fire across goal, but a defender managed to hook it away. Stu Munday then had a run and powerful shot that was beaten away and just seconds later had the ball again in the six yard box and was bundled over by a challenge from behind. Up stepped Richard Fell who despatched his penalty with aplomb.

That meant the score was 2-0 at half-time and Bay looked in control. Tom Powell who was having a commanding game at centre-back had an extended half-time to regain his breath after becoming slightly breathless just before the break.

Whitstable were considerably better after the restart and enjoyed more possession and more time in Bay’s half without overly troubling the keeper.

Fifteen minutes in to the second half, with Bay under pressure, some over protesting by Leigh Gilpin had referee Warren Gardner reaching for the yellow card to indicate a 10 minute cooling off period in the sin bin. This prompted more pressure from Whitstable but Bay were still managing to mount attacks and take the game to the home side despite the man advantage. During these 10 minutes, Craig Gilpin with the ball at his feet, ran at the defence and as he rounded the final defender, he was brought down agriculturally at the edge of the area. The resulting free kick, taken by Stu Munday, was on target but easily gathered.

Having weathered the Whitstable storm at the start of the second half, and with Leigh back on the pitch, Bay were again forcing their opponents back. On 70 minutes, Matt Carvosso made good on his pre-match guarantee of a goal by tiptoeing past a number of defenders in the area before firing in to the top right hand corner of the net.

Whitstable though had something of a lifeline back into the game on 75 minutes when they scored from a well struck free kick after a debateable handball by Tom Powell on the edge of the area.

Stu Munday then capped an imposing game when, virtually on the final whitstle, he picked up the scraps of an errant Dave Close shot and calmly slotted the a controlled shot in to the far corner of the goal.

Overall, this was an excellent result that maintains our position just behind Gate (who also won today). The performance had in it the desire required to win and there were a number of good shouts for man of the match today: Tom Powell who was solid at the back, Stu Munday with his penetrative and creative display, Leigh Gilpin a tower of strength in the middle of the park, Lee Foad and Simon Bates, neither of whom put a foot wrong but it was Craig Gilpin who won the vote with his perpetual movement, pressing and creativity.

Next up at Gate Fossils at the Canterbury University pitch on Saturday 14th May (KO 11:15am)

Here is how we lined up at the start:

R Parker

S Bates T Powell L Foad K Edwards

D Close L Gilpin

C Gilpin S Munday C Sharp

R Fell

Bench: M Carvosso, M Kidd

Result: HBV 3 – 1 HBVR
Man-of-the-match: Player's vote: C Gilpin
Man-of-the-match: Opposition vote: -
Referee: W Gardner [100]