Herne Bay continued their hot streak of wins with this seven nil thumping of struggling Peacehaven & Telscombe on a heavy pitch.
It could have been a cricket score and if it had been a cricket match Bay could well have declared at the interval and still won by an innings.
“On a very difficult pitch I thought we played some really good stuff today”, said Herne Bay manager Sam Denly, “obviously a seven nil gives us a very good goal difference. A good day all round”.
Herne Bay have hit a hot streak scoring 3,4 and 7 in the last three Ryman League games and the most notable factor is that they are coming from several different scorers making it hard for opposing defences to mark one single player out of the game. They might have had more than the seven they scored against the hapless Magpies but that would have been greedy wouldn’t it?
Several chances went begging, most notably Lee Browning slipping when seemingly set inside the first 60 seconds to score, before Bay did open their account thanks to a trade mark Sam Hasler curler. Hasler then added to his and his team’s score with a splendid solo effort in the 40th minute and right before the break Joe Nelder etched his name on what was to become a full scoresheet.
After the interval, the Magpies tired on the torrid surface and Bay poured more oil onto troubled waters at the south coast outfit. Danny Walder’s exquisite curler with the outside of his right boot from the edge of the area made it four nil with just two minutes of the second half having elapsed. Seven minutes later Nelder broke into the visitors’ box only to be upended by Hamilton Bunga. Penalty!
At first, Sam Hasler grabbed the ball perhaps with an eye to completing his hat-trick but it is never a good idea to change the regular penalty taker for such a reason and Danny Walder claimed the right and duly dispatched the ball out of reach of James Shaw between the Magpies’ sticks.
Still Bay were rampant, scenting more and were duly rewarded. Mark Lovell rammed home from a corner kick just before the hour and substitute Elliott Cutts rounded things off nine minutes from time after James Turner had spun on a sixpence to lash a shot that was parried by Shaw but only into Cutts’ path, who made no mistake.
The pitch looked like the Battle of the Somme had been re-enacted on it afterwards but there weren’t many of those bedecked in blue and white who gave a second thought to the hours of work by the groundsman that will be needed to effect its’ repair as Bay celebrate moving up to third in the league table and another step toward a play-off berth being secured.
“We know that Peacehaven are struggling for various reasons but we still had to be at the races today”, said Denly, “it was only a matter of time, we could have been three of four up in the first ten minutes but I told the lads that we’ve got to be patient. We just had to keep doing the right things and if you keep doing that then you take a chance and away you go”.
Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Nathan Eastwood, Dan Johnson, Liam Quin (Dan Parkinson 62), Connor Sanders, Danny Walder, Joe Nelder, Mark Lovell (Elliott Cutts 71), Lee Browning (James Turner 62), Sam Hasler.
Subs not used: Danny Williams, Gary Sayer.
Sent Off: none Cautioned: none.
Peacehaven & Telscombe: James Shaw, Jake Hampson, Ben Ewing, Alex Spinks, Hamilton Bunga (Dean Stewart-Hunter 54), Richard Ismail, Josh Marshall, Austin Symonds (Kieran Scantlebury 62), Chris Ransome, Tom Gannon, Jack Funnell.
Subs not used: Alieu Secko, Alusine Bangura, Emmanuel Ndaw.
Sent Off: none Cautioned: Hamilton Bunga, James Shaw, Chris Ransome..
Referee: Gary Jerdon Assistant Referees: Damian Buhagiar & Craig Barnett.
Man of the Match: Sam Hasler (Herne Bay)
Herne Bay (3) 7
Sam Hasler 26, 40
Danny Walder 47, 54 (pen)
Joe Nelder 43
Mark Lovell 58
Elliott Cutts 81
Peacehaven & Telscombe (0) 0
Attendance: 215
Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
Saturday 23rd January 2016.
(at The Altira Park Stadium, Winch’s Field)
Photo credit: Terry Kemp – Danny Walder scores from the spot