Herne Bay 1-2 Erith & Belvedere - We've shot ourselves in the foot, says Simon Halsey

HERNE BAY  1-2 ERITH & BELVEDERE
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Wednesday 18^th April 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Winch’s Field

FURIOUS Herne Bay manager Simon Halsey says his players have shot themselves in the foot after they failed to claim the point they needed to mathematically secure the Kent Hurlimann Football League title with three games left.


The season long leaders and FA Carlsberg Vase semi-finalists, needed a point to secure the title, but Erith & Belvedere came to gate-crash the party and Micky Collins’ side leapfrogged over VCD Athletic and Erith Town into second place in the table, after completing the double over Herne Bay.

Herne Bay squandered numerous decent chances in the opening 25 minutes of a one-sided opening, before Erith & Belvedere snatched the lead against the run of play, through Richie Davies’ strike at a set-piece.

But their lead only lasted seven minutes as Herne Bay restored parity when James Turner slid in from close range to score his eighth goal of the season.

Erith & Belvedere grabbed the points through Andy Constable’s 32^nd goal of the season in the 67^th minute and they finished the game with ten-men after ineffective striker Marcus Cassius picked up his second yellow card after he kicked the ball away.

Halsey, 44, was clearly upset, as his team stutter towards the finishing line.

He said: “We couldn’t score. We couldn’t defend our goal.  Absolutely astonished!

“We didn’t take our chances, simple as that and didn’t clear our lines when we should’ve.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable the amount of chances we’ve missed tonight!  Unbelievable!”

Erith & Belvedere coach, Grant Watts, 38, who was a striker with Crystal Palace and Bromley among others, added: “You have to take your chances. If you don’t take your chances you don’t win games!  When we played them at home we missed quite a lot of chances.”

The former Holmesdale coach added: “We’ve done the double over them, which is a fantastic achievement for us.”

Halsey said he appreciated Erith & Belvedere’s clapping players forming a guard of honour for Herne Bay’s players before the start of the game and it appeared that the visitors had surrendered their slim chances of snatching the league title with a poor first half performance.

He said: “I fully respect them for that and I hold my hands up and I applaud them for doing that because I really appreciate that and I mean that.  That was magnificent of them, but again we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by not finishing the job off, so fair play to them. I appreciate it.”

Watts explained why his players clapped their rivals on to the pitch.

“They deserve it!  They’re the League champions.  They’ve done really well in the Vase this year. They’re a good team. Simon’s a good manager, so we showed our appreciation.

“They’ve played really well all year and we wanted the players to experience that to know what it’s like.   We want to do that next year.  We strive to be where they are.  They’re a fantastic team.”

Watts dismissed his side’s very slim chances of snatching the League title out of Herne Bay’s grasp.

He said: “They’ve won the League, haven’t they?  They’re not going to drop any more points.  If they do, no-one’s going to catch them. It’s all over. It’s been over weeks ago.”

Herne Bay started on the front foot and they should have opened the scoring after just 59 seconds, but Ben Brown’s right-footed drive bounced wide after Dave Soutan and Dan Lawrence combined.

Herne Bay almost opened the scoring inside the opening eight minutes when the ball was cleared out to Toby Ashmore, who opted not to shoot when he picked up the loose ball some 35-yards from goal, and he spread the ball out to the right flank for Lawrence, who brought the ball under his spell before whipping an excellent cross which was met by Luke Harvey’s glancing header, which was caught by visiting keeper Richard Stroud, high to his right.

Highly-rated keeper Stroud kept his side in the game halfway through the first half when he blocked James Turner’s low right-footed drive after the striker exchanged a slick one-two with Harvey.

Man-of-the-Match, Rhys Lawson, was seeing plenty of the ball during the first half and his blistering pace down the left flank terrorised full-back Luis Regis, who plays for Bromley’s Academy side, for the 62 minutes that the young defender was on the pitch.

Lawson’s penetrating run set up a chance for Harvey, but the hardworking target-man was denied by Stroud, who made a low save.

Lawson cut in from the left and cracked a low right-footed drive on the angle, which forced Stroud into making a fine save to his right to tip the shot around the post.

And when James Turner released Harvey through on goal, the Herne Bay striker should have done better than drill a fierce right-footed drive wide of the near post and into the sparse terrace behind the goal.

It was inevitable that out-played Erith & Belvedere would have one chance and score from it and that was exactly what happened in the 27^th minute.

Skipper, Jamie Wood, who played on the left hand side of midfield, clipped a left-footed free-kick into the Herne Bay penalty area and Davies came up from the back and flicked a shot across Dan Eason to find the bottom left hand corner to hand the visitors’ the lead against the run of play.

Watts dished out plenty of praise for the eighteen-year-old central defender, saying, “He’s a fantastic prospect, Richie. He will go a long way in League football. I’ve not seen a player at that age (like that) in a long, long time and we’re very lucky to have him.”

Halsey described the goal as a “sloppy goal.”

But Herne Bay fought back and they levelled just seven minutes later.

Lawrence was freed down the right flank and he whipped in an excellent cross into the middle and James Turner slid in and poked a right-footed shot past Stroud from four-yards.

Halsey said: “Great goal.  We had a chance before that. We worked the ball well.

“We dominated the game, put it in the right areas first half.  We just didn’t execute at the end, good enough.”

Watts added: “You can see why they’re top of the league and why they’ve won the league and they came every so close to get to a Wembley final.

“First half I thought they were superb.  I thought the game changed when they took the 9 (James Turner) off.”

Stroud thwarted Herne Bay again in the 37^th minute.  Toby Ashmore clipped the ball out of his right-back position to release James Turner down the right channel and the striker cut inside and his right-footed drive was beaten away by the keeper, high to his left.

Dave Soutan was the next player to be denied by Stroud, hitting a right-footed shot on the turn, which was saved low down by the visiting keeper, after Lawson cut into the middle of the pitch and Lawrence drove the ball towards the edge of the penalty box.

Erith & Belvedere twice went close towards the end of the first half.  Cassius, back for another spell at the club after playing Ryman League Division One South football for Chipstead, blasted his shot just past the near post and Constable’s right-footed drive brought a comfortable save from Eason after the ball came out to him after Stroud’s free-kick up field.

When asked what he said to his players during the interval, Halsey said: “We’ve got one point. We have to defend that now, play the right football, keep the ball and we’ll come away with the point that we need, but no!

“Let’s get two more defeats in the column over the last two weeks. We’ve lost two games all season, now we’ve got four in there, four in the lost column – absolutely embarrassing!”

It was certainly a game of two halves for Erith & Belvedere, as they came out with more heart after the interval and they came within inches of taking the lead inside the opening seven minutes.

Karl Knight burst forward in an attempt to charge down a clearance from Eason and although the left-winger didn’t make contact, Eason’s kick was poor and was picked up by Constable, who cracked a right-footed drive from 30-yards, which curled agonisingly wide of the far post.

Halfway through the second half, the visitors’ should have done better when Sean Johnson’s corner was cut back to Wood, who unleashed a low angled drive across goal to find Cassius unmarked at the far post, but the striker steered his shot wide.

The introduction of substitute Badar Mohammed paid off as Erith & Belvedere grabbed the lead in the 67^th minute, through Constable, 33, who is enjoying his best season of his career.

All credit must go to Paul Springett who cut in from the left and cut the ball back across the face of goal for Constable to smash home a right-footed drive to Eason’s right to stun the Winch’s Field faithful into shocked silence.

Watts said: “You’ve got to ride your luck in football. If you don’t take your chances, you’re not going to be in with a shout are you?

Praising Constable, Watts said: “He’s only 46 stone, ain’t he?  He’s always there.  He’s a threat.  No matter what people say about him he’s a goalscorer and he’s got a fantastic finish.  He’s got a great attitude, he’s a lovely guy and he deserves everything and I really hope he gets a few more goals now.”

Halsey raged: “The number of times I told them, don’t try to show the ball out!  Put it into the railway! No! We tried to show the ball out. You see it time and time again. He nicks it, puts it across goal. Andy Constable. 2-1!

“It came from our mistake by not kicking the ball out.  We tried to shield it out, they got hold of it, played it across the box.”

The woodwork saved Erith & Belvedere when Brown floated in a free-kick from the left channel and Stroud failed to gather the ball and James Campbell’s header bounced on to the top of the crossbar.

Cassius, who was booked just before half-time after a tussle with Jamie Maxted was spotted by referee Mr Michael Marsh, picked up his second yellow card for kicking the ball away with three minutes remaining.  A minute later Stroud picked up a yellow card for timewasting at a goal-kick.

Watts admitted Cassius was a “silly boy” for getting red-carded for the second time in a very short space of time.

“The boy will learn from it. At half-time I said to him don’t get sent off, don’t do anything stupid and he kicked the ball away.  He’s like (Mario) Balotelli (the Manchester City striker) ain’t he?  He got sent off last week, so he’s got sent-off on two games on the bonce.  He will miss the first few games of next year.”

But Stroud was to have the last laugh as he made a comfortable save to prevent Brown sweeping home a left-footed shot inside time added on, leaving Halsey bitterly disappointed and angry that his side did not clinch the title on a wet and miserable night.

“I don’t want to win the league by some secretary not putting a cross on a form.  I want to win the league by winning the league on points and we ain’t done it yet so they can keep their trophy until I win it outright,” Halsey stormed.

Halsey, whose side have now suffered back-to-back home League defeats, added, “We lost two up until two weeks ago, now we’ve got four in the lost column. We’re not complacent because I won’t let them be complacent.  They’re not doing the right things.  That is simple!  Those two goals that we conceded today are by not doing the simple things in football.  Basics as a defender and not taking our chances when we get into the attacking third. Wrong decisions.”

When asked whether his side could lose the league title, Halsey replied, “Of course we can lose it!  We haven’t won it yet!  Of course we can lose it!  That’s what I keep trying to tell everyone. 

“Everyone keeps giving it all that, celebrating, we’ve won it, because of this and that (Erith & Belvedere’s expected points deduction for playing an ineligible player in January).  I want to win it by winning it, not by any other means and we’re not doing it at the moment.

“Every opposing manager I’ve spoken to keeps saying “well done”, but we ain’t won it.  I want to win it.  I want to win it outright.”

Herne Bay: Dan Eason, Toby Ashmore, Tom Bryant, Jamie Maxted, James Campbell, Dave Soutan, Dan Lawrence, Ben Brown, James Turner (Tom Parker 50), Luke Harvey (Ashley Baverstock 46), Rhys Lawson.
Subs: Ollie Bartrum, Michael Jenner, Michael Turner

Goal: James Turner 34

Booked: Jamie Maxted 45

Erith & Belvedere: Richard Stroud, Marvin Farrell, Karl Knight (Nathaniel Bell 68), Sean Johnson, Oliver Poole, Richie Davies, Jamie Wood (Dan Nicholl 85), Paul Springett, Andy Constable, Marcus Cassius, Luis Regis (Badar Mohammed 62).
Sub: Jimmy Anderson

Goals: Richie Davies 27, Andy Constable 67

Booked: Marcus Cassius 45, Badar Mohammed 79, Richard Stroud 88

Sent Off:  Marcus Cassius 87
 
Attendance: 145
Referee: Mr Michael Marsh (Herne Bay)
Assistants: Mr Don McLeod (Deal) & Mr Darren Ellis (Canterbury)