Herne Bay 3-1 Faversham Town - I won't need to motivate my players for second leg - Luchford

Wednesday 10th March 2010

HERNE BAY 3-1 FAVERSHAM TOWN
Bulmers Cider Kent League Cup Semi-Final First Leg
Wednesday 10th March 2010
Stephen McCartney reports from Winch’s Field

HERNE BAY took a giant step towards the Bulmers Cider Kent League Cup final as they take a two-goal advantage to Salters Lane for the second leg next Tuesday.

They led 3-0 at the break at a windy Winch’s Field, courtesy of two own-goals and the returning Stuart King, who came in for leading goalscorer Luke Harvey.

Faversham bombarded the Herne Bay penalty area during a one-sided second half and pulled a goal back through substitute Steve O’Brien, who was playing his first game in a year.

League leaders Faversham arrived at Winch’s Field on the back of ten successive wins and they reached the Kent Senior Trophy final having defeated Deal Town at the weekend. They will play Greenwich Borough (who knocked out Herne Bay) at Welling United’s Park View Road ground on Sunday 18th April.

Faversham should have broken the deadlock when Nick Smith’s cross from the right found Dane Luchford unmarked at the far pot an his hooked shot smacked against the crossbar and Tom Hickman skied the rebound.

But second-placed Herne Bay (10 points behind with 3 games in hand) opened the scoring with their first shot on goal after 11 minutes with a fine move of passing football.

A move down the right involving Nathan Eastwood and Jake Gess resulted in Darren Marsden releasing Eastwood in behind the Faversham defence and his low centre bounced off Faversham’s central defender Ashley Brown and rolled into the net.

Things got even better for Herne Bay as they doubled their lead eleven minutes later - courtesy of another own-goal.

Yellow booted Michael Turner’s cross from the left sailed towards goal where Faversham left-back Dan Larkin and his Herne Bay counterpart Steve Hanson jumped for the ball but Larkin applied the final touch from close in.

Herne Bay really should have put the tie beyond Faversham’s reach when Gess powered Rob French’s kick back to back where it came from and striker Rob Lawrence drove his shot agonisingly past the far post when he only had the goalkeeper to beat.

Herne Bay keeper Dan Eason maintained his reputation when he tipped over Michael Smissen’s near-post glancing header following Larkin’s free-kick from the right.

But Herne Bay raced into a 3-0 lead after 37 minutes when Eastwood played a delightful ball through the Faversham defence (cutting out Larkin and Lee Shearer) and King produced an excellent right-footed finish, slotting the ball past the exposed French.

The former Ebbsfleet United third-choice goalkeeper was lucky to stay on the pitch just before half-time when he brought down Rob Lawrence a couple of yards outside his penalty area as the striker raced through on goal.

Faversham introduced Craig Preston at half-time and his long throws bombarded the Herne Bay penalty area for the entire second half.

Faversham struck the woodwork for the second time when Damian Abel cracked a right-footed drive on the turn from 25-yards, which bounced off the top of the crossbar and out for a goal-kick.

Faversham applied the pressure for the remainder of the game as Herne Bay were penned back inside the penalty area as balls came from above from every angle.

Preston headed just wide following a free-kick - before their pressure finally told when they pulled a goal back with fifteen minutes remaining.

Awarded a dubious free-kick, Larkin swept in a delicious cross into the crowded penalty area and O’Brien rose to head powerfully down and the ball bounced into the far corner to give the visitors hope for next week’s second leg.

With Herne Bay defending resiliently, Faversham squandered a couple of late chances when substitute Richard Sinden glanced a shot straight at Eason and O’Brien headed over following some indecision inside the penalty area from Hanson.

Herne Bay manager, Simon Halsey, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards, knows the tie is not over.

“Yes, advantage to Herne Bay at half-time,” he said. “I’ve got to be pretty happy about the first 45 minutes.

“We knew what was going to happen with the slope and the wind in the second half. We predicted at half-time exactly what they were going to do and as I’ve always said, throughout the season, they’re very good at what they do and strong at what they do.

“Apart from one slip-up, we dealt with it along the way. Long throws and long balls sat in there and we tried not to give silly free-kick’s away.

Looking forward to the second leg at Salters Lane next Tuesday, Halsey said, “It’s not done by far. After Saturday, my mind will be focused on Tuesday night and I know we’re going to get pretty much the same - a lot of balls down our throats and we’re going to have to deal with it.

“We’re a very good footballing side and sometimes it’s hard for us to adapt.

“Faversham play to their strengths and they do it very, very well and you can’t knock it. They get great deliveries on their free-kicks and on their throws and they’ve got a great fella (Shearer) whose got 16 goals this season from it so everyone plays to their strength in football.”

Reflecting on his side’s first defeat since Greenwich Borough beat them 3-2 at Oakley Road on 2 January 2010, Justin Luchford told www.kentishfootball.co.uk that Herne Bay’s celebrations at the final whistle will spur on his side next week.

“Herne Bay have made a mistake tonight!” said the Faversham Town manager. “Celebrating the win in front of us after the game - in front of our players was a mistake because that’s upset our players a lot.

“We win gracefully and we lose gracefully. We shake everybody’s hand. No problems at all. We won’t celebrate when we get wins. That’s a disrespect for the other team and that’s upset our lads tonight. Not me particularly, people are how people are.

“I won’t have to motivate them too much.”

Reflecting on the game itself, Luchford, whose side could still win the treble, even though at this stage he won’t admit it, said, “We were on top and we’ve hit the bar and they scored with their first attack so I don’t think they deserved to be up at that point.

“I think after that for the rest of the half I thought they played some decent stuff and scored three goals and I thought at half-time they probably deserved it on the run of things.

“But they went out second half and I don’t believe they’ve had a shot on target for 45 minutes. That just shows the character of our side to be honest.

“There was only one team in the second half as far as I’m concerned so over the course of the game Herne Bay have probably had half-an-hour and we’ve probably had an hour, so we just didn’t get the finishing right.

“I think we had enough chances to get the game a little bit closer but I’m fairly pleased that we’re back into it.”

A defiant Luchford defended his tactics of playing predictable long-ball football and relying too much on Preton’s long throws, although Herne Bay were the more gifted team on the ball at times.

“Ok, everyone including you guys, the press, and everyone else keeps saying we’re a long-ball side. You keep telling me that and we’ll just keep putting the ball into the back of the net,” came Luchford’s response.

The Faversham boss insists the club will do everything in their power to pass the ground grading deadline on the last day of this month.

He said: “We’re working hard as everyone else in this league to make sure we’ve got the ground grading.

“We were never expecting to pass the ground grading first time. Christ! No-one does that unless their Dover Athletic!

“We’re the same as any other club. There’s work to be done, we’ve got three weeks to do it. We’ve got plenty of time. Everything’s in place.”

Herne Bay: Dan Eason, Nathan Eastwood (Simon Moore 77), Sean Bremner, Jamie Maxted, Steve Hanson, Jake Gess, Michael Jenner, Darren Marsden, Stuart King, Rob Lawrence, Michael Jenner.
Subs: Aaron Campbell, Sam Taylor, Neil Perkins, Christian Marsh.

Goals: Ashley Brown 11 (own goal), Dan Larkin 22 (own goal), Stuart King 37

Booked: Rob Lawrence 89

Faversham Town: Rob French, Dan Elliott, Dan Larkin, Tom Hickman, Ashley Brown, Lee Shearer, Nick Smith (Craig Preston 46), Damian Abel, Michael Smissen (Steve O‘Brien 63), Shane Hamshare, Dane Luchford (Richard Sinden 63).
Subs: Dale Skelton, Joe Dart.

Goal: Steve O’Brien 75

Attendance: 154
Referee: Mr Mark Graves (Deal)
Assistants: Mr Adam Aylward (Ashford) & Mr Ryan Cole (Herne Bay)