Two goals in three second half minutes wrenched the points away from Bay and dented one of the better home records in the Division.

“We looked tired”, said Bay manager Sam Denly, “the long trip to Worthing in midweek really took it out of us”.

Both sides started brightly in the glorious, if at times blinding, November sunshine. Herne Bay might have gone ahead as early as the 2^nd minute with their first attack of the match.

Jordan Casey’s header game back off the bar and an acrobatic effort from central defender Liam Quinn, on the rebound, flew wide. Casey was again unlucky when his shot was deflected just wide in the 19^th and 5 minutes later Dan Summers almost scored for the visitors when his effort ricocheted just wide of Delo’s right hand post.

Paul Smith in the Terrors goal palmed Michael Turner’s swept shot away and then with the half about to close Dan Summers finally made the break through. United were awarded a free kick some 25 yards from goal, just right of centre, and Summers sent his dead ball kick up and over the wall to beat Delo in the top right hand corner of the home net. A classic free kick strike.

After the break, the men from Morden stamped their authority on a tiring Bay outfit. Two goals in three minutes put the game to bed. In the 55^th, Frankie Sawyer drilled home from the left hand edge of the penalty area with the home defence seemingly static. Three minutes later Howard Newton tucked away the simplest of chances when he tapped in from 6 yards after Jack Delo had parried a fierce drive into his path.

The Terrors were now looking comfortable, the points pocketed and just the remainder of the game to see out. Herne Bay proved themselves the comeback kings in midweek and they set about repeating that feat. Stuart King stretched to reach a Sam Hasler left wing cross on 76 but his reward was to see the ball come back off Smith’s right hand post.

Finally, they did salvage something, albeit inevitably a consolation, with probably the best footballing move of the match. Dan Johnson broke down the left, slipped the ball inside to Ita whose first time pass into the path of Danny Williams allowed the striker to whip the ball home with seconds remaining on the clock.

“Not a great performance, but we’ve hit the bar, hit the post and that’s one of the best goals we’ve scored all season, a fantastic team goal”, said Denly, “we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, I’ve said to them keep your chins off the floor, we’re a good side, we’ve got a week off and a good trip down to Guernsey to look forward to”.

 

 

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Dan Parkinson (Sam Hasler 58), Danny Walder (Harry Brown 83), Joe Nelder, Jordan Casey (Danny Williams 39), Stuart King, Steven Ita.

Subs Not Used: Nathan Eastwood, Ben Kitcherside.

Cautions: Liam Quinn.                Sent Off: None

 

Tooting & Mitcham United: Paul Smith, Tom Jelley, Nathan Gordon, David Graves (Harry Knock 9), Lewis Gonsalves, Bashiru Alimi, Howard Newton (Saiou Khan 73), Francis Quarm, Dan Summers (Tinashe Nkoma 85), Frankie Sawyer, Billy Marshall.

Subs Not Used: Colin Hartburn, Harvey Cheadle.

Cautions: None             Sent Off: None

 

Man of the Match: Frankie Sawyer (Tooting & Mitcham United)

Referee: Nick Dunn       Assistants: Ivor Gelov & Adam Steele.

 

Herne Bay (0) 1

Williams 90

 

Tooting & Mitcham United (1) 3

Summers 45

Sawyer 55

Newton 57

 

at Winch’s Field

 

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)

Saturday 1^st November 2014.

 

Attendance: 256

 

by Peter Guise

 

(Photo credit: Steve Barton – Jordan Casey heads against the bar.)