Herne Bay: Jordan Perrin, Reion McFarlane, Jack Parter, Laurence Harvey, Dan Johnson, Adem Ramadan, Hamilton Antonio, Bode Anidugbe, Zak Ansah, Kieron Campbell, Bradley Schafer
Subs Used: Aaron Millbank (Campbell 58) Rory Smith (Ramadan 87)
Subs Not Used: Dan Carrington James Belcher

A great return to Club for Bradley Schafer, scoring both goals in this narrow victory.

The pitch and conditions made for a poor football display, with both sides being very wasteful with passes and ball possession. It was not a very entertaining match, with very little goalmouth action, as the match statistics show. Only 6 shots on target by either side for the whole game. Jordan Perrin not having a single effort to save in the first half.

The only real high points of the game were a double strike by, former Bay favourite, Bradley Schafer, making his return debut on the night. The first, scored minutes before the interval came about, courtesy of a poor clearance by Hawks keeper, Nathan Stroomberg. This being gifted to Schafer, 30 yards out and completely unmarked. Advancing on goal, as Stroomberg came off his goal-line, striking a low drive into the bottom corner.

His, and Bay’s second, was a well-worked goal with Zak Ansah putting Bode Anidugbe free on the left. A superb cross into the box was met by Schafer who made no mistake heading past Stroomberg. Bay then went into defensive mode, for the final 20 minutes, trying to see out the victory, allowing Whitehawk to dominate possession and play in Bays’ half. This caused a few panics with the Hawks getting their first attempt on target. Then 2 minutes from time the inevitable happened. Whitehawk scored and what a good goal this was. 18-year-old substitute, Billy Clark, curling a sublime volley from fully twenty yards, past the outstretched arms of a diving Perrin, in at the far post. With five minutes of injury time, Whitehawk threw everything into attack and were nearly rewarded with an equalising goal. A goal-mouth scramble, like a game of pinball, was finally cleared. The ball was sent straight back into the area and Perrin had to be at his very best, diving to his left, to turn a downward header around the post. A great relief when the referee blew for time.

Three points won, now on to the next challenge, Cray Valley PM away on Saturday.

Whitehawk - Herne Bay
3 Corners 1
9 Fouls 11
2 Cautions 0
2 Shots on Target 3
7 Shots off Target 3
3 Offside 1