Despite the 80 minute suspension of this match following the injury to skipper Rachel Tracy 19 minutes before the end, Herne Bay Ladies picked up three valuable away points to move up to second in the league in this tough encounter on the Sussex Coast.
Tracy was taken to hospital with a shoulder injury after a brave challenge for the ball on the edge of the Bay penalty area.
“It was a long trip down here, we were a little bit late so the preparation wasn’t fantastic and the first half we were still in the minibus”, said Herne Bay Ladies manager Anthony Deer, “but second half we stepped up and moved on, we worked hard”.
Bay started slowly again but still had enough about them to create a plethora of chances that ought to have killed the game off within the first 20 minutes. Straight from the first whistle, Sullivan worked a one on one with the home keeper but failed to pull the trigger. In the 17th, Mollie Proctor saw her shot saved with her legs by Sarah Walshaw. It wasn’t until the half hour mark that Town had their first real effort of the match with Bay ‘keeper Sarah Cooper saving the dangerous Grace Gibbs’ shot with her legs.
Bay had more pace after the turnaround with Amber Guyatt getting forward to support the twin strikers. In the 53rd minute she collected the ball wide on the right, cut inside and into the home penalty area where she was tripped after eluding the full back. Debbie Blackmore made no mistake from the spot and Bay finally had the lead. But Eastbourne came straight back from the restart and within a minute had the chance to equalise when Rachel Tracy upended Jacey Sampson in the box but Sarah Cooper dived to her right to save Felicity Webster’s spot kick.
Then, with 19 minutes remaining, came that lengthy stoppage when Rachel Tracy went to ground with a howl of pain following a superb run stopping tackle. Tracy lay motionless whilst she received attention supported by the Eastbourne Town physio. An ambulance was called which took some 45 minutes to arrive and resulted in Bay’s captain being taken to hospital with a suspected shoulder injury. 80 minutes after the incident, handled superbly by the referee, the match restarted with Bay increasing the tempo. Within two minutes Carly Farrow, in typical fashion, strode forward to smite a shot of some ferocity into the home net.
Eastbourne Town threw the kitchen sink at the Bay defence for the final 15 minutes without success and left gaps at the back that Bay attempted to exploit on the break without further success. With the clock ticking down, Town’s Tash Pearson received her marching orders for a second bookable offence after being on the pitch less than ten minutes.
“We seem to need a goal to settle us down, we had so many chances”, said Deer, “with the injury to Rachel we had to refocus and the second goal has come from some good play, it killed the game, job done”.
Eastbourne Town Starting XI: Sarah Walshaw, Stef Shambrook, Emma Parslow, Jazz Cripps, Georgie Davies, Chelsea Leighton, Victoria Phillips, Feliicity Webster, Grace Gibbs, Beth Richardson, Jacey Sampson.
Subs: Paige Yarwood, Elleah Fenner, Danielle Ford, Francesca O Callaghan, Tash Peason
Herne Bay Ladies Starting XI: Sarah Cooper, Emma Brown, Alex Roy, Beth Nugent, Debbie Blackmore, Amber Guyatt, Carly Farrow, Lucy Harrington, Gemma Sullivan, Mollie Proctor, Rachel Tracy.
Subs: Emily Brown, Kayleigh Mount, Amanda Beeput, Nicola Morris, Emma Hogben.
Referee: Raj Seruwagi
Player of the match: Amber Guyatt (Herne Bay)
Eastbourne Town (0) 0
Herne Bay Ladies (0) 2
Debbie Blackmore 53 (pen)
Carly Farrow 73
London & South East Regional Women’s Football League (Premier Division)
Sunday 27th September 2015
at The Saffrons
Photo credit: Peter Guise – Carly Farrow strikes Bay’s second.