Herne Bay failed to match their performance last time out against Margate and were beaten by Lancing who have now closed the gap on us to three points down in the lower reaches of the league table. It was the first time in five attempts that Lancing had taken a point off the Bay, and the first time Bay had failed to score against them.

After a cold start to the day when most of League games were postponed because of frozen pitches, the 3G at Sussex HQ managed to avoid the frost. The lineups were announced and the only change in Herne Bay’s was Sinn’Kaye Christie replacing the injured captain Liam Friend.

Lancing's leading scorer, midfielder Harry Heath, showed his intent to add to his 10 goals in 10 games since joining the club towards the end of November when in the 4th minute he dribbled through Bay’s defence but shot wide.

Christie was booked early on for a foul, and from the free kick, Joel Odeniran headed clear for the first of several early corners. From it, Josh Bexon did well to touch an attacking header over the bar. Lancing won the header from the follow-on corner, but it was over the bar.

The early pressure paid off for Lancing when they took the lead in the 11th minute. Heath’s pass gave George Taggart time and space to pick his place to beat Bexon.

Bay tried to respond and Monty Sauders’s cross was headed on the bounce by a stretching Kane Haysman into the Lancing debutant keeper Conor Clark’s arms. Scott Heard’s quick freekick to Ethan Smith caught the defenders napping, but the keeper was off his line quickly to get to the ball first. Smith headed over from another Saunders’ cross.

An opportunity fell to Haysman in the 36th minute when a defender slipped and some uncharacteristic hesitance allowed the defence to recover and clear.

In the 38th minute, Mike Salako had the ball in Lancing’s net from Smith’s pass, after some good interplay between Joe Odeniran and Freddie Oliver, but the linesman raised his flag for offside against Salako.

Two minutes into the time added on at the end of the first half, Bexon was challenged by Heath as he rose to collect a cross on the edge of the penalty box. Heath fell to the ground as the ball came loose, and reacted quickly to get to his feet and hook the ball into an empty net.

At 2-0 down, Steve Lovell made two half-time substitutions, Frankie Smith and Josh Reid came on for Oliver and Christie.

Bay had the first goal chance ten minutes into the half when Heard’s pass put Saunders clear and he crossed to Reid, but unfortunately, he couldn’t direct his first time shot on target.

Three more substitutes were made by Lovell, but Bay could never get enough grip on the game to look like making a comeback. At times Reid and Saunders got into good positions to put crosses into the area, but the only time Clark was called into action was from a long-range effort from Artem Kuchkov that he held cleanly.

Herne Bay has now dropped a place to 17th in the table having picked up only 4 points out of a possible 24.

Herne Bay: Bexon, Parter, Carrington, Christie {Reid 46‘}, Odeniran, Saunders, Oliver (F Smith 46‘)(Kuchkov (65’)), E Smith, Heard, Salako (Diakiesse ‘66), Haysman (Rowland 66‘)

Subs Unused:

Yellow Cards: Christie (7’), Oliver (27’), Heard (’69), E Smith (72’)

Next Fixtures:

Saturday 18th January 15:00, home v Merstham (Isthmian South East)
Saturday 25th January 15:00, away v Beckenham Town (Isthmian South East)