Herne Bay showed some promising signs of their capabilities in this eventful Tuesday evening match against Ramsgate, who remained unbeaten in the League and now sit one point behind Beckenham Town.

Bay are in a difficult phase, and except for the first half hour of the game, matched their opponents in all aspects and can feel that they should have at least a point. The Ramsgate goalkeeper made two world-class saves early in the second half, missed a penalty, and had a goal disallowed, in a superb second-half display. The crowd of 862 was certainly entertained by Bay’s young side who if they replicate this performance, will begin to climb the table.

Herne Bay Manager, Steve Lovell, made changes to the starting eleven. Harry Brooks was recalled in goal, Jack Hiller returned to a four-man defence and Artem Kuchvov replaced Michael Salako. Harry Bridle, signed earlier in the day, on loan from Gillingham came into the squad.

The match did not start well for Bay. A second minute goal by Ramsgate’s Aaron Barnes was disallowed for offside. Ramsgate had the majority of the possession and looked very comfortable on the ball, while Herne Bay was too cautious.

Ramsgate took the lead in the 12th minute – a Roarie Deacon corner was overhit and crossed back in by Jay Leader. Scott Heard headed clearance fell to Billy Monday, whose shot was saved by Harrty Brooks, down to his left and the rebound was tapped home by Joe Taylor.

Bay’s best effort early on came in the 16th minute for Kuchkov. Brooks’s long clearance was headed on to Kuchkov by Kane Rowland, and he pulled the ball down and created space to shoot but his right-footed curler deflected off Leader for a Bay corner.

Ramsgate extended their lead in the 19th minute through Lee Martin. Josh Ajayi turned the ball back to Taylor who played back to Martin who was running at full speed with Heard. As Heard slid in Martin marginally got their first and lofted a curling shot over Brooks for 0-2.
Bay thought they had won a free-kick when Heard was fouled right on the edge of the box, but the linesman had his flag up for offside. Bay did begin to have more possession with Monty Saunders, Ethan Smith and Jack Parter all enjoying more attacking freedom.

Heard had a long-range effort caught under the bar by Ramsgate’s on-loan keeper Dillon Addai. Soon after Brooks saved Ajayi’s shot with his legs at the near post.

There weren’t many clear-cut chances for Bay in the rest of the first half as Ramsgate’s defence held firm.

The second half gave Bay great hope for a comeback, and in the first three minutes, Addai made two critical saves from Heard. Firstly, a left-footer looked as if it was flying in yet a full stretching dive by Addai turned the ball past his right post. Secondly, Rowland teed up Heard to strike from a similar distance with his right foot but Addai was able to turn this one over the bar, as Heard held his head in disbelief.

After an injury to Kuchkov in the 59th minute, Harry Bridle came on for his Herne Bay debut and he got his name on the scoresheet within 5 minutes. A corner was nodded across the six-yard box by Rowland and Bridle reacted quickly to control and smash the ball home to reduce Ramsgate to a one-goal lead.

In the 82nd minute, Bay’s hopes of a comeback were high when Liam Friend won a header in the box and as Rowland took the ball under control Ben Bioletti was adjudged to have handled it to concede a penalty. Parter hit the penalty with tremendous power but sadly it crashed into the crossbar and flew high into the sky. With players around, and the keeper diving backwards the ball was missed by the keeper and Rowland touched it in. But the referee disallowed the goal with the linesman flagging. Looking back at the video it seems the linesman flagged as the ball was coming back down, so I can only assume the ball went off and was blown back on the pitch.

That incident pretty much closed out the game and Ramsgate held on to a 1-2 victory that was harsh on Herne Bay after a very strong second-half.

Herne Bay; Brooks, Hillier, Parter, Friend, Salmon, Heard, Kamara, E Smith, Rowland, KIuchkov (Bridle 59’), Saunders.
Subs Unused; Reid, Hill, Lartice, Carrington
Yellow Cards; none
Next Fixtures:
Tuesday 19th November 19:45, away v Broadbridge Heath (Isthmian South East)
Saturday 23rd November 15:00, home v Beckenham Town (Isthmian South East)

Herne Bay will face Tonbridge Angels away in the Quarter-Final of the Kent Senior Cup after they beat Beckenham Town 6-1. A date will be confirmed shortly.