Bay Make It 6 in 7 at Winch’s

Herne Bay (2) 2
King 3, 19

South Park (0) 1
Hall 70 (p)

at Winch’s Field

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Saturday 27th September 2014.

Attendance: 184

by Ray Kelly

(photo credit: Steve Barton – Stuart King waits for the ball to drop to blast his second goal.)

Herne Bay cemented a 2-1 home win over high fliers Corinthian-Casuals following a very good first half performance with two unanswered goals from Stuart King. From the kick off Bay attacked the Casuals defence and after only 3 minutes King fired in from 20 yards hard and low into the right hand corner leaving Danny Bracken in the Casuals’ goal flat footed.

Herne Bay could have extended the lead 3 minutes later when Danny Williams run and shot was cleared off the line by the Casuals’ skipper Joe Hicks. On 7 minutes following a poor clearance from Jack Delo, Juevan Spencer’s shot was expertly cleared of the goal line by Gary Sayer. 3 minutes later Casuals were forced to make a change when the injured Jamie Byatt was replaced by Cisve Bamoussa.

King and Williams continued to cause the Casuals defence problems, being fed by Dan Johnson and Michael Turner down both flanks but Casuals were very quick on the counter with Spencer and Dave Hodges testing the Bay defence. On 18 minutes Dan Johnson made a good run down the left before crossing the ball. Williams headed on when Bracken
failed to gather and King pounced and bundled the ball in the net.

Chances fell to Corinthian-Casuals on the counter and on 25 minutes Hodges saw his effort tipped over the bar by Delo and from the resulting corner Lee Hall fired high and wide from 15 yards. Herne Bay were unlucky in the 36th minute when a great run by Joe Nelder through the Casuals defence and a pass to Williams resulted in the ball the near post before squirming along the goal line to safety. Herne Bay were good value for the 2-0 half time lead with the defence solid and all concerned giving 100%.

Herne Bay continued to press Casuals in the opening minutes of the second half with King and Williams both going close in the opening minutes. The Casuals replaced Nial Wright with Shane Graham on 50 minutes and Herne Bay put on Sam
Staunton for an injured Nelder. On 65 minutes the Referee Mr. Nick Dunn awarded a very dubious penalty to Casuals when he adjudged that Sayer pushed Karl Wilson-Dennis in the box. Up stepped Lee Hall who buried the ball in the net.

This goal spurred on Corinthian-Casuals putting the Bay defence under pressure and were indebted to Sayer for a crucial last ditch clearance and to Delo for taking many high balls out. The Bay defence was pure class led by Connor Sanders, assisted by Connor Partridge in his first game of the season, thwarting efforts from Hodges and Mahrez Battache. In the 85th minute Steven Ita and Jordan Casey replaced Dan Parkinson and King who received a standing ovation from the Winch’s Field faithful.

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Connor Partridge, Connor Sanders, Dan Parkinson (Steven Ita 86), Joe Nelder (Sam Staunton 57), Danny Williams, Stuart King (Jordan Casey 90), James Brown.

Subs Not Used: Kane Butler, Harry Brown.

Man of the Match: Danny Williams