Herne Bay banished the blues of defeat at the weekend and climbed back up to 6^th in the league with this strong performance against high flying Three Bridges.

 

“The performance was the most pleasing thing about that result”, said Bay manager Sam Denly, “especially first half, we were fantastic and played some really good football”.

Herne Bay had the best possible of starts and always looked threatening going forward. In the 8^th minute, Steven Ita robbed Dan Mobsby on the left, looked to have pushed the ball too far ahead of himself, but raced on to thump the ball past Kieron Thorp between the Three Bridges sticks.

The pace of Ita was electrifying and brought the sparse crowd to their feet. Georgio Russo ran the right wing with his overlapping runs, Danny Williams probed and Frannie Collin was only stopped by a flat arm across the face just short of the box for which Bridges’ Jamie Crellin received a yellow card. The on loan striker may not have got on the scoresheet but his positional awareness and constant running did more than make up for that.

This was Herne Bay at their best, but after the break, the visitors found another gear forcing Herne Bay deeper and deeper in a ten minute spell of pressure that deservedly led to the equaliser when Sam MacVicar headed home a left wing cross in the 66^th minute.

But Herne Bay, still smarting from the defeat against Molesey on Saturday, were not to be denied. Georgio Russo, on another surging run down the right let fly from the edge of the box in the 84^th that fizzed past Thorp’s right hand post. The winner came as the lady of ample proportions was gargling in anticipation of her vocal performance.

Elliot Cutts played Connor Sanders in and he swept home to secure all the points and send Bay rocketing back up to within a point of the play-off berths.

“After the defeat on Saturday I asked for a reaction, we’ve got to bounce back from defeats like that”, said Denly, “Three Bridges are second in the league, they’re a good side. We looked dangerous, we looked lively, the lads that came off the bench did well, Elliot set up the second goal and I thought we thoroughly deserved the win”.

 

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Georgio Russo, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Connor Sanders, Nathan Eastwood (Dan Parkinson 25), Danny Williams, Sam Hasler (Elliot Cutts 71), Frannie Collin, Steven Ita (Kane Phillip 83).

Subs not used: Kane Butler, Joe Nelder.

Sent Off: None  Cautioned: Connor Sanders, Danny Williams, Sam Hasler

 

Three Bridges: Kieron Thorp, Dan Mobsby, Matt Daniel, John Lansdale (Ashley Robinson 78), Callum Donaghey, Jamie Crellin, Ben Godfrey, Lee Carney, Sam MacVicar, Hakeem Adelakun, Matt Whitehead.

Subs not used: Mark Pulling, Tom Gannon, Kyne Newman-Knott, Jordan Willis

Sent Off: None  Cautioned: John Lansdale, Jamie Crellin.

 

Referee:  Ryan Whittaker           Assistant Referees: Steve Perry & Scott Rudd

Man of the Match: Connor Sanders (Herne Bay)

 

Herne Bay (1) 2

 

Three bridges (0) 1

 

Attendance: 128

 

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)

Tuesday 22^nd September 2015.

(at Winch’s Field)

 

Photo credit: Herne Bay FC Photo Library – Connor Sanders scored Bay winner.