Deep down I know we should have got to Wembley, admits title winning Herne Bay boss Simon Halsey

HERNE BAY manager Simon Halsey says he regrets not leading the club to a Wembley Final after his side collected the Kent Hurlimann Football League title yesterday.


Herne Bay’s 2-0 win away to Greenwich Borough at Oakley Road, courtesy of goals from Ashley Baverstock and Jamie Maxted, ensured they clinched the title with two games to spare and Halsey is looking forward unleashing his talented, footballing side in the Ryman League next August.

Reflecting on their 21^st league win of the season, Halsey said: “Mission accomplished!  Two seasons and job done!

“We played well because we played 50-60 minutes like we did against Erith & Belvedere but took our chances this time.  We defended better, it was a very comfortable win.”

Herne Bay were always going to win the Kent League this season, it was just a matter of when, but the side wobbled in recent weeks, suffering back-to-back home defeats to Tunbridge Wells and Erith & Belvedere.

“I think we’ve had a little bit of a wobble, we knew that,” admitted Halsey.  “I can take the wrap for the (home) defeat to Tunbridge Wells.  I rested players, changed the formation around a bit. 

“We’ve had two tough games against West Auckland, came back, played Tunbridge Wells (away) on the Tuesday and Fisher on the Saturday.  We’ve done a few miles so I decided to rest a few players and changed it up against Tunbridge Wells (at home)

“It backfired on me, but I went into the game making a few changes, changed the shape of the team.  If we took a knock we still had four or five games after that to get that one point.”

“I had to do what I thought was best at the time and I knew we’d get that point somewhere.”

Halsey guided the club to a memorable FA Carlsberg Vase run, but they lost a hearbreaking semi-final exit at the hands of Northern League outfit West Auckland Town, 4-3 on aggregate.

Whoever made the trip to Durham to watch the 2-1 away defeat will have a very bitter taste in their mouth, knowing that Herne Bay lost to a club that have a very bad reputation.

And as a result of Herne Bay not making it through to the Wembley Final, which would have seen Kent turn out in force on Sunday, 13 May, officials of the Kent club warned that The Football Association may pull the FA Vase Final away from Wembley Stadium, owing to the expected tiny crowd when West Auckland Town face their Northern League rivals Dunston UTS in London.

“Absolute immense pride for myself, for my players as well and the club,” reflected Halsey.

“It’s the best season they’ve had in 125 years and it’s come on their 125^th birthday.  Our sights at the beginning of the season was to win the League and go as far as we can in the Vase and try to retain the KPL (Kent League Cup),  but as the season went along we wanted to stay in the important two games in the Vase, win the League and the KPL fell by the wayside.

“Now the season’s over and now I’ve won the League and I can sit back and be honest with everyone.  We should have got to Wembley! No doubt about it.  I haven’t said to up until now.  Now we’ve won the League and it’s over and it’s been a great season, I’m very, very disappointed that there’s a big hole left that we didn’t make Wembley.  As I know and my players and the whole club know, we missed an opportunity for one reason or another.  That opportunity was there and we let it go.”

Halsey can be extremely proud of his side’s Kent League title win, but the defeat at Darlington Road is still hurting him.

He said: “That’s me as a person sitting there eating my breakfast on the Sunday after we won the League and feeling very, very proud of what we achieved, but there’s still that little hole.  Deep down I know we should have got to Wembley.  Perhaps I made a couple of wrong decisions on that day and let the pressure of the day get to me, which reflected on to my players.

“I’m young as a manager. It’s only two seasons so just to cover myself I had a lot put on me in a very short spell, but we dealt with it.  We had a good go and we’ll learn from it definitely.”

That will be the last chance that Herne Bay will have to reach a Wembley Final for many years as Herne Bay will be competing in the FA Carlsberg Trophy next season, as well as the Ryman League Cup and Kent Senior Cup – and they will once again lock horns with fierce rivals Whitstable Town in League football again.

“It’s a magnificent achievement for Herne Bay Football Club to be playing at that level.  I want the players to sample it and they’re going to now.  They’re a very, very young side. The Turner twins are no age and I’ve got plenty of players in there who are young, who haven’t played outside the Kent League.

“Now they’ve been all around the country playing football and now they’re going into the Ryman, with new faces, new grounds and better players and they have to step up to that level.

Sevenoaks Town, who suffered a shock defeat in the Umbro Kent Senior Trophy Final just seven days ago, when they crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Kent Invicta League side Hollands & Blair, face a busy week.

Darren Anslow’s side welcome Beckenham Town to Greatness Park at the third attempt on Monday night, before champions Herne Bay visit on Wednesday night.

Halsey says he will start to blood some of his second string players into the first team, starting with Wednesday’s trip to Greatness Park.

“I’ve got a lot of good youngsters in the reserves and I’m just on my way back from Ashford after watching the under 18’s and I’ve got a lot of good players coming in,” revealed Halsey, who works with a 22-man first team squad.

“The club is in a good shape and there’s no point in my going to the Ryman having all this good, footballing talent who want to play on the floor and smash the ball forward and play off the pieces.

“We’re going into the Ryman trying to play football.  If it bites me in the bum and costs me my job because we’re not doing well, then that’s the case, but I won’t change my philosophy how football should be played.

“We’ll be going in there to try and pass the ball around and do well.  Folkestone have done well (finishing in fourth place in Ryman League Division One South to quality for the play-offs) by doing that with Marzo and Kingy (former Herne Bay midfielder Darren Marsden and striker Stuart King) and all the good footballers they’ve got around them, so why can’t we go there and do the same and pass it around the Ryman League and that’s what we’ll be setting out to do.”

When asked how he will treat their last two league games of their title winning season, Halsey said: “I will be going for two wins.  I’ll be going for six points. I want to finish the league on the highest amount of points as we can, away from second place, to prove we’re the best side in the league.

“There’s a few in the reserves that I will take with me and I will blood them to see what they’re like.   I’ve seen reserve football now, they’ve got a couple of games to show me what they’re going to be like for pre-season.

“We’ll go to Sevenoaks, the club have laid on a coach for Wednesday night for our last away game and there will be plenty of bodies there.  We’ll be going for the win and we’ll be finishing on another six points then next Saturday we’re having the trophy re-presented on our last home game in front of a big crowd to make it a great day of it down at Winch’s Field.”

Halsey will sit down with club officials within the next couple of weeks to find out what tools he will have to work in the Ryman League.

Halsey said: “There will be a lot of hard work for myself and the football club to carry it on now. I have to personally have a meeting and sit down with the committee and the chairman in the next couple of weeks to determine my future to make sure my ambitions and the club’s ambitions are the same, which I’m sure they will be.

“We do have to talk about it and once I’m nailed to the club and sorted I can make signings, who I want and bringing players through the reserves to make sure we go in the right direction.

“We’re not going to be mid-table or top of the play-offs with no budget. That’s the meeting we have to have. We have to make sure the structure and all that is in place and we have some sort of budget, hopefully.”

Kent football is a very close nit community and Halsey appreciates the goodwill coming from rival managers.

Halsey added: “Also, I’d like to thank all the other managers and everyone who have texted me over the last week or so congratulating us.  Bill (Walton) at Fisher and Micky Collins at Erith & Belvedere, Ricky Bennett at VCD, who was behind us all the way in the Vase run and texted me wishing me the best of luck.

“As a football fan I wish them all well in whatever they do next season and thanks for their support.”

Visit Herne Bay’s website: www.hernebayfc.net

Sevenoaks Town  v  Herne Bay
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Wednesday 25^th April 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5AX