It was scrappy, but Herne Bay brushed Peacehaven aside with a power play performance in the final 9 minutes of this, up to that point, easily forgotten cup tie.

 

“We said at half time it wasn’t our best performance, we were One nil up, we were in the game and they weren’t really hurting us”, said Bay manager Sam Denly,

“the key thing I said to them at half time was that good sides who are not quite playing well still find a way to win games and we’ve done that today”.

Peacehaven & Telscombe with a new manager installed and with several new signings were expected to provide sterner opposition than their early season results would have indicated but, in truth, neither Herne Bay nor the visitors turned up much heat in the opening 45 minutes.

It was punctuated with one highlight and that was a scrappy affair as well. In the 6^th minute, Lovell, on the visitor’s goal-line forced the ball home after it had deflected off Kane Butler.

There was promise of things to come immediately after the break when Lovell was brought down 20 yards from goal. The resultant free kick took a deflection and Steven Ita stroked the ball into the net but the Bay forward was adjudged to have come back from an offside position.

The game reverted to its bitty roots until Herne Bay put in a final 9 minutes that bedazzled the lower than average crowd as much as that which had gone before had bemused.

First, in the 81^st minute right back Georgia Russo went on a strong overlapping run down the right and his inch perfect bullet cross was met with an equally powerful header from Mark Lovell.

Unstoppable and classic, the perfect way to double the home side’s advantage. 4 minutes later the ever troublesome Ita was felled in the box. A chance to put the game to bed but Amadou Tangara guessed right and fell to his left to smother Walder’s spot kick.

It mattered little in the end as Sam Hasler, with 3 minutes of normal time remaining, stepped inside and smote Bay’s 3^rd goal from the edge of the box to seal a victory that gives them an away tie in the 1^st Round Qualifying against Southern Counties East Football League side, Rochester United.

“Funny atmosphere today, it was really quiet all across the ground”, said Denly, “but it was important to do our jobs today and when it’s not quite happening it’s important that quality comes through and Sam Hasler came off the bench to score, and the second goal was outstanding, a quality cross from Georgio (Russo) and a quality header from Lovell.”

“Rochester United will be an interesting game for us, we’ll be favourites and we’ll go there with confidence, but it’s the FA Cup and you get these games”.

 

Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Georgio Russo, Nathan Eastwood, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Connor Sanders, Danny Walder, Dan Parkinson (Sam Hasler 60), Mark Lovell, Kane Butler (Steven Ita 40), Kane Phillip (Danny Williams).

Subs not used: Michael Turner, Harry Brown, Elliot Cutts, Bradley Cummings.

Sent Off: None  Cautioned: Connor Sanders

 

Peacehaven & Telscombe: Amadou Tangara, Jon Marzetti, Felipe Lira, Steve Brinkhurst, Layton Schaaf (Luke Donaldson 60), Lance Shehas, Tom Lawley, Lloyd Cotton (Kieron Perkins 55), Jack Rowe-Hurst, James Hammond, Jaimie Brotherton.

Subs not used: Stacy Freemna, Alieu Secko, Ross Sutton

Sent Off: None  Cautioned: Felipe Lira, Lloyd Cotton, Kieron Perkins)

 

Referee:  Paul Lister      Assistant Referees: Luis Nunes & Timothy Dowdeswell..

Man of the Match: Connor Sanders (Herne Bay)

 

Herne Bay (1) 3

Mark Lovell 6, 81

Sam Hasler 87

 

Peacehaven & Telscombe (0) 0

 

Attendance: 117

 

Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round

Saturday 29^th August 2015.

(at Winch’s Field)

Picture supplied by Steve Barton.