We aim to get back to winning ways as we face second place, Ramsgate, at The Crest Stadium on Tuesday 12th November (7:45pm KO), and perhaps a local derby is exactly what Steve Lovell’s team needs to help spur their season on.

The last five clashes have not ended in Herne Bay’s favour with the Rams having bettered the hosts in four out of their last five league matches, with the Blues only drawing the other. The last time the Bay welcomed Ramsgate to The Crest Stadium, the scoreline finished 2-1 to the visitors with a crowd of 1,039 on the day.

Both teams are facing a different spell of form with the Bay being winless in our last five games in the Isthmian League South East Division, sitting us in 16th place with 14 points after 12 matches. Ramsgate’s form is the polar opposite, with the Reds having won four and drawn one in their last five matches – unbeaten in the league in their first thirteen matches. They currently sit in 2nd place, only four points off the top spot.

MANAGERS THOUGHTS

Steve after Herne Bay’s 2-0 defeat away to Eastbourne Town: “Two goalkeeping mistakes. It’s getting a bit monotonous now. So, I’m disappointed with them because majority of the game we played well – we had the most possession, most shots, most crosses and most corners but at the end of the day, we lost 2-0.”

“I feel sorry for the boys. They worked hard again and played very well. They got the ball down and passed it, even on a lumpy pitch, and tried to play but you can keep giving goals away like that. It’s not fair on everybody. I’ve got to do something about it. It’s just two terrible, terrible mistakes.”

“We can’t make that many changes as we don’t have that many players so the changes that I have to make need to be made so we don’t keep giving goals away like we have been giving. Apart from that, our goalkeeper hasn’t had a shot to save. Their goalkeeper has had shots and crosses to deal with, block to deal with too.”

“The only change I can make is mentally with the boys to get the back but can’t. If physically, they keep doing it, then there has got to be a change. I have tried a number of goalkeepers but unfortunately today, Crumpy hasn’t done himself any favours but with goalkeepers, that’s the way it is. If they perform and play well, they make saves and keep clean sheets. If he doesn’t make two errors like that, we come out with a clean sheet. It’s as simple as that.”

“I thought the midfield played well. I thought everybody played well. Monty on the right and Jack on the left, the three in the middle had a good game. The two boys upfront are lacking goals. When you’re a forward and you don’t get goals, it becomes a nightmare for yourself. They’ll start scoring and stop scoring.”

“We have just got to keep doing what we are doing. I can’t knock the performance at all today. I thought the performance was excellent. We just didn’t finish it off at one end and cause two mistakes at the other end. Apart from that, they had nothing.”

TEAM NEWS

Frankie Smith’s injury appears to have worsened from the last time we saw him play. He was hoping to be fit for last Tuesday’s home tie vs Hythe Town however looks highly unlikely with him leaving that game on crutches and not featuring in the squad against Eastbourne Town.

We would say the same for Kane Haysman who picked up his injury against AFC Croydon. He came off in the second half after a suspected break to his foot. Fortunately, he only sustained a quite heavy cut and is now awaiting the healing. It did only look like he would be out for a few weeks with his injury however we can’t see him starting against Ramsgate.

TALKING TACTICS

Steve has changed systems a couple of times during the season, favouring the 4-4-2 (diamond) however has recently shown off his 4-4-2 against Margate in the Kent Senior Cup and AFC Croydon in the league. His most recent affair, against Eastbourne Town, the boss lined up with a 3-5-2.

One of the Bay’s best performances in recent games came against Eastbourne and without some errors at the back, would have likely have taken a clean sheet and at least a point at The Saffrons Stadium. We fully expect Steve to stick with the formation he played that game and probably the personnel that played on the day.

We would imagine that the 3-5-2 would allow for Steve to have a comfortable defence, as well as having a wide outlet with Parter and Saunders. The three in midfield are all engines and should help cramp the middle of the pitch out and you leave our two target men up top. Our predicted Herne Bay Starting XI:

PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE

Our last performance against Ramsgate came at the Southwood Stadium on Boxing Day of last year. A strange away day for the fans who were cooped up in a small corner of the stadium - with a crowd in excess of 1,600 on the day. The goalscoring started early, coming from winger, Alfie Paxman. Shortly after, Joe Taylor doubled the lead and it looked like the start to a day to forget for the away fans.

It wasn’t all over for the Bay as in the 32nd-minute, Kane Rowland scored an equaliser which he scrambled over the line. A lifeline that Herne Bay could take into the second half. Ramsgate weren’t done there though and around 15 minutes into the second half, Joe Taylor scored his second goal of the game – the third and final goal of the tie.

Seven of the current player featured in the squad for our previous fixture against Ramsgate. Harry Brooks, Frankie Smith, Liam Friend, Kane Rowland, Mo Kamara and Michael Salako all started whilst Daniel Carrington featured as an unused sub.

HEAD TO HEAD

• 26/12/2023 – Ramsgate 3-1 Herne Bay – Isthmian League South East
• 28/08/2023 – Herne Bay 1-2 Ramsgate – Isthmian League South East
• 15/11/2022 – Ramsgate 1-1 Herne Bay – Kent Senior Cup (Second Round)
Ramsgate win 6-5 on penalties
• 29/01/2022 – Ramsgate 2-0 Herne Bay – Isthmian League South East
• 02/11/2021 – Herne Bay 1-3 Ramsgate – Isthmian League South East

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune into the live commentary on X as we take you through the action with a live feed via tweets. Check it out here: https://x.com/HerneBayFC