Squad

Lawrence
Jim
Rob
Gordon
Colin
Michael
Les
George
Steve
Paul

After two difficult away games where we came away with creditable draws tonight was the toughest of the lot against last season’s league winners.

Herne Bay started well keeping the ball with quick movement and some crisp one and two touch passing, we worked tirelessly to keep them out with some solid defence and trying to keep our shape under pressure.  We were doing well until a snapshot was well parried by Lawrence but unfortunately his fine save fell to the home teams centre forward who quickly controlled and finished well.  Lawrence was called on a couple more times in quick succession saving well. Bit by bit we fought our way back in to the game and ended the half well with a series of half chances through some good passing.

The second half began with us trying to be a bit more adventurous by playing two up front, a new strategy that we have not tried before but we knew we had to try and play more in their half.  In truth it never really worked as we still couldn’t seem to give our forwards the support they needed; something we need to work on and improve. Having said that we did have chances with the best effort coming from Colin well saved by the home keeper and a quick free kick well blocked.

We continued to work hard for each other but Herne Bay on a number of occasions outnumbered us as they pressed forward and Lawrence continued his excellent display with a number of fine saves keeping us in the game.

Although we ultimately conceded the second goal we can take a lot from the game in that we know that we can improve with practice, our passing also wasn’t the best today but then again we probably tried to force the play a bit too much because of the quality of the opposition.

Ultimately we lost to a better side that always seemed to be able to work the space to have a free man with our own forward passes being cut out before we could get in to a dangerous position. Lawrence was ever dependable keeping us in the game and Colin was probably the pick of the outfield players but although the effort was there we never quite got it right today.

It was a pleasure to be involved in a highly competitive game played in the right manner which was superbly refereed by Frankie who kept control at all times and had the respect of both teams. It was also good to welcome three new players making their league debut in Michael, George and Steve and the team spirit and togetherness they entered in to will serve us well in the future.

So an evening where we never gave up and made our opponents work hard for their victory ultimately ended in disappointment for us but we move on to the next game with pride in our performance against a very strong team.