Another game of two halves for Herne Bay; a first half they will want to forget, a second period the will want to replicate.

“We were poor first half”, said Bay manager Sam Denly, “but I thought we were outstanding in the second. The guys showed great character.”

The visitors were a yard off the pace, carved open in defence and slow to pounce on chances in the opening 45 minutes with Worthing looking out of sight with the half drawing to a close.

The home side had signalled its intentions as early as the first minute when Jack Delo was forced into tipping a rasping drive from Brannon O’Neil over the bar.

The opening exchanges were lively. Lloyd Dawes, who created space on both flanks, dragging Bay’s wing backs out of position, went close in the 5^th. Stuart King delayed his shot from an excellent Jordan Casey cross 4 minutes later and his effort was blocked by the Rebels’ ‘keeper as a result.

Just 2 minutes later Worthing were ahead. Bay failed to defend a short corner and Trevor McCreadie turned and fired home from the edge of the six yard area. Within 120 seconds, King had a chance to equalise for the visitors but fired wide from another good cross from Casey, who seemed rejuvenated after being asked to play for the U21s last weekend instead of the Bay first team.

“I thought he was outstanding today”, commented Denly on Jordan Casey’s performance, “I’ve had a few harsh words at half time, the only one they weren’t directed at was Jordan. He was excellent.”

Worthing heeded the warnings and came back again to increase their advantage. First, O’Neill forced a great save from Delo in the 22^nd from a volley before Lloyd Dawes got the goal his hard work had deserved four minutes later.

He picked up the ball on the half way line, for once in a central position rather than hugging the touchline, ran unchallenged to the edge of the 18 yard area before unleashing an unstoppable shot. With 5 minutes of the first half remaining the home side took a seemingly unassailable lead with Terry Dodd capitalising on a Liam Quinn slip to score Worthing’s third.

Indeed, the lead might well have been enough had Stuart King not pulled one back on the stroke of half-time for Bay, ramming home Joe Nelder’s turf hugging right wing cross.

After the break, with those harsh Denly words ringing in their ears, the visitors were more competitive although Worthing still managed to set alarm bells ringing amongst the yellow clad back four.

It took just six second half minutes for the Casey / King partnership to deliver the goal they had gone close to delivering in the early stages of this match. Casey fed King and he slotted the ball past the advancing Fagan.

Now there was just a goal in it. Herne Bay had ‘keeper Jack Delo to thank for keeping the margin thus when in the 63^rd he underlined his shot stopping prowess by turning a fierce drive from Terry Dodd away for a corner.

The introduction of Sam Hasler for Herne Bay 13 minutes from the end gave fresh impetus in the search for an equaliser. He might have achieved that within 3 minutes of his introduction when he cut in from the left but fired straight at Fagan.

It mattered little as 60 seconds later Dan Parkinson looped a ball over the Worthing defensively high line for Stuart King to run onto and complete his hat-trick powering the ball home for the point saving equaliser.

For the neutral, this was highly entertaining five star fare. For Herne Bay supporters it was another inexplicable Jekyll & Hyde performance resulting in a return of just 3 away points from 27 on offer.

More success on the road would see Herne Bay higher than their current 11^th position in Ryman One South.

“It’s frustrating, we seem to be playing two different halves each week”, said Denly, “it’s something we’ve got to address. We’re sitting mid-table, comfortably, and that’s about where should be. We had enough spirit today to get ourselves back in the game.”

 

 

Worthing: Jack Fagan, Corey Heath, Will Hendon, George Hayward, Will Berry, Harvey Sparks, Omar Bugiel (Billy Franks 64), Brannon O’Neill, Trevor McCreadie, Terry Dodd, Lloyd Dawes (Curtis Gayler 64).

Subs Not Used: Matt Axell, Jacob Peake, Ben Pope.

Cautions: Hayward, O’Neill, Gayler         Sent Off: None

 

Herne Bay: Jack Delo , Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Danny Walder (Dan Parkinson 78), Liam Quinn, Connor Sanders, Dan Johnson, Joe Nelder, Nathan Eastwood (Steven Ita 43), Stuart King, Jordan Casey (Sam Hasler 77).

Subs Not Used: Harry Brown, James Brown.

Cautions: Gary Sayer, Joe Nelder           Sent Off: None

 

Man of the Match: Stuart King (Herne Bay)

Referee: Matt Lee          Assistants: Barrie Small, Jack Bonnick

 

 

Worthing (3) 3

McCreadie 11

Dawes 26

Dodd 40

 

Herne Bay (1) 3

King 45, 51, 84

 

at The Woodside

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)

Wednesday 29^th October 2014.

 

Attendance: 194

Picture supplied by Herne Bay FC