Herne Bay 3-1 Hanworth Villa - Our FA Vase run is keeping my players' at the club, says Simon Halsey

HERNE BAY  3-1  HANWORTH VILLA
(after extra time)
The FA Carlsberg Vase Third Round Replay
Wednesday 7^th December 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Winch’s Field

HERNE BAY manager Simon Halsey says progressing into the last 32 of The FA Carlsberg Vase will keep the vultures away from his talented crop of players.

The Kent Hurlimann Football League leaders, whose players’ are presently playing for nothing after the loss of their main club sponsor last month, needed extra-time to knock out plucky Combined Counties League side Hanworth Villa, who shot themselves in the foot as two of their defenders were red-carded towards the end of normal time.

Herne Bay, who are unbeaten in the league, squandered numerous early chances, but they went into the half-time interval a goal up, courtesy of Michael Turner’s fourth goal of the season.

But Hanworth Villa, who went into this replay in sixth-place in the Combined Counties League, kept plugging away and they deservedly drew level with twenty minutes of normal time remaining, through Levi King’s fifteenth goal of the campaign.

But the west Londoners faced an uphill task when Steve Loveridge and Adam Baigent picked up their second yellow cards and their attempt to shut Herne Bay out in extra time failed as Herne Bay wrapped up victory through Tom Bryant and Byron Walker’s fourteenth goal of the season.

There will be two Kent sides in the Fourth Round as Tunbridge Wells welcome United Counties League outfit St Ives Town to Culverden Stadium, while Herne Bay make the long trek up north to Northern League side Newcastle Benfield on 21 January 2012.

With Hanworth Villa arriving at Winch’s Field within 45 minutes of kick-off, it was inevitable that Herne Bay would start on the front foot and they created several good chances inside a dominant opening fifteen minute spell.

Visiting keeper Terry Buss used his left leg to deny Walker from opening the scoring inside the opening four minutes after the Herne Bay striker turned inside the penalty area.

A short left-wing corner, taken by Michael Turner, saw him feed the ball to Darren Marsden (who is interesting Ryman Premier League side Margate) and the talented midfield playmaker cut along the by-line but Buss blocked his fiercely driven shot at the near post.

Buss then made a smart low save to his left to prevent Dan Lawrence from scoring after the winger cut in from the right.

Jamie Maxted, a central defender, then got in the act as he burst forward and cracked an ambitious shot with his left-foot from 35-yards, which sailed narrowly over Villa’s goal.

And Marsden was thwarted by the busy visiting keeper halfway through the first half after picking up the ball and turning before sweeping a right-footed shot goalwards.

Halsey said: “First fifteen minutes they had their backs against the wall and we had plenty of chances to take the lead – but we didn’t do it – and then we started giving the ball away cheaply and they started to take the game to us and they gained confidence and fair play to them, they never stopped, right to the last bit of extra time.”

However, Hanworth Villa, almost grabbed the lead with the first half’s best chance, nine minutes before the break.

Loveridge fed a free-kick into Anthony Oaks’ feet, who swept the ball out to skipper Ricky Farnden out on the right and the winger had time and space to whip in an inch-perfect cross, which was met by a flicked near-post right-footed volley from Levi King from eight-yards, which was tipped into the side-netting by Herne Bay’s goalkeeper Dan Eason.

Hanworth Villa were enjoying a good spell of pressure and they really should have equalised when Joe Johnson fed King down the left and his low centre was met first time by Farnden, who stabbed a shot just past the foot of the near post from eight-yards.

Farnden was in the thick of the action again when he put 22-goal striker Lawrie Shennan through on goal but his low right-footed shot which was destined for the bottom far corner brought Eason into making a low save to his right.

But it was Herne Bay that went into the break a goal-up as Turner gave the hosts the lead with 43:52 on the clock.

Marsden played a defensive splitting pass in between right-back Loveridge and centre-back Baigent and Michael Turner cut inside and swept a low right-footed shot across the visiting keeper and into the bottom far corner, beyond the diving keeper’s outstretched left arm.

Halsey added: “Michael has scored three of them in a row now, exactly the same way.  He comes in between the full-back and the centre half and following a great ball in he cuts inside and finished with his right foot.  I’m absolutely over the moon for him – a great finish!”

Hanworth Villa manager, Bobby Dawson, screamed to his players during the interval, “If you don’t do a bit more, you’re out of the competition!”

Herne Bay created the first chance of the second half when Lawrence cut through two defenders before cutting the ball back to Marsden, who sent a right-footed curler over.

Herne Bay keeper Eason made a string of fine saves to frustrate Hanworth Villa.

Jimmy Major and Anthony Oaks combined down the left to put King through on goal, but Eason stood tall at his near post to make a fine block.

Baigent was booked for tripping Walker on the edge of the penalty area and Marsden clipped a right-footed free-kick over the wall and Buss plucked the ball out of the air to prevent the ball floating into the top corner.

Hanworth Villa deservedly levelled in the 70^th minute when King unleashed a low left-footed drive from 25-yards, which nestled into the bottom corner, past Eason’s despairing drive.

Halsey admitted he could feel the equaliser was coming.

He said: “You could just see it! I could just see it.  Again we’ve just shot ourselves in the foot with the manner we gave the ball away and their blokes tucked it into the back of the net to make it one-all.”

The equaliser seemed to suck out Herne Bay’s confidence as Hanworth Villa could sense a shock victory and King took a touch before turning and cracking a left-footed shot towards goal from 30-yards, but thankfully the ball sailed narrowly over the top of the near post.

Eason was proving that he is arguably the best keeper in the Kent League as he made a fantastic diving save to prevent King from scoring with a left-footed drive from 30-yards, which took a wicked bounce before the 22-year-old stopper pushed the shot behind.

Lee Higgs audacious curling free-kick wasn’t going to catch Eason out who was in a good position to react and punch the ball away, but as the ball dropped, a volley from substitute Shaun Preddie flew high and wide from 22-yards.

Hanworth lost Loveridge (to a straight red-card) first with three minutes of normal time remaining for a sliding challenge on Toby Ashmore just inside the Herne Bay penalty area, which caused a coming together of players from both sides.

But Hanworth Villa never gave up and a run from Farnden resulted in the winger stinging Eason’s fingers with a right-footed drive from 25-yards.

Baigent picked up his second yellow card for kicking the ball away in the 89^th minute and from that moment on the west Londoners surrendered their FA Carlsberg Vase progress.

When asked about the two red-card incidents, Halsey said: “Well, whether they were sending offs, I don’t know!  If they were, they were. If there weren’t, I can’t do much about that.

“They kept coming at us after that so fair play to them.   I don’t think we’ll come out with a much together game like that again to be fair.”

Hanworth Villa striker Shennan squandered a couple of chances during the first period of extra time.
His low left-footed drive was spilt by the Herne Bay keeper at the near post but an even better chance arrived when he met King’s corner from the right with a glancing header which sailed wide of the far post.

Herne Bay grabbed the lead in the 103^rd minute when substitute James Turner cut in from the right and flicked the ball across the face of the penalty area and Bryant couldn’t miss from three-yards out, tapping the ball into an empty goal.

Eason made a stunning save just before the turn-around when the keeper dived to his right to tip King’s curling free-kick into the side-netting.

Herne Bay finished the second period stronger, as their superior fitness told.

Herne Bay substitutes played a major role when Rhys Lawson cut in from the right and set up James Turner, who stroked a low right-footed shot across Buss and against the base of the far post.

Walker wrapped things up in the 115^th minute after he was brought down inside the Hanworth Villa penalty area and the slender striker slotted home the resulting penalty, just left of centre, with the keeper going the other way.

Halsey, who also guided the club to the Fourth Round last season when they were knocked out by eventual winners Whitley Bay, said: “We done it the hard way, but it was a proper Cup game as was Saturday.  It was identical to Saturday’s game, two games consecutive, played exactly the same way.

With a two-man advantage, Halsey was confident his side would progress into the national stage of the competition for the second successive year.

He said: “They made it hard.  It was important that we stayed disciplined.  We didn’t go gun-ho and leave two on two at the back or concede a poor goal so we had to be disciplined and just take our time to break them down and fortunately we did.

“I’ve got nothing but praise for Hanworth Villa to be honest. They’ve come down here and like they did on Saturday (a 2-2 draw after extra-time) and battled for their lives.”

Looking forward to their trip to Newcastle Benfield, Halsey is looking forward to the overnight stay in the North-East.

He said: “I just want the lads’ to experience all that and I want to experience it as a manager, going a long way away and just doing all the things that footballers do.”

When asked whether he is thinking about reaching a Wembley Final, Halsey replied, “No. Not yet!  We just have to think about going to Newcastle yet.  Obviously I’ve got Sevenoaks on Saturday (in the Kent Senior Trophy), which will be my next important thing and the Vase will be put on the back burner until well after Christmas.

“Wembley is a long, long, long way away in our thoughts at the moment now.”

Halsey admitted that the club’s FA Carlsberg Vase run is keeping certain players at Winch’s Field.

“That’s why the club’s still going in the right direction,” said Halsey.  “As I said before, if people thought Herne Bay would collapse and die and be also-rans they’d be gravely mistaken.  We’ll push on as far as we can still.

“Let’s not beat about the bush.  I’m an honest person.  The players’ know that and I told them in no uncertain terms that the longer we’re in the Vase the more chance I’ve got of keeping everyone.

“There’s a couple (that have received offers elsewhere), but I’ll do everything I can do to fend them off.  Getting a win tonight and looking forward to the next round, hopefully I’ll keep them off a little while longer and hopefully by then something will come into action and we will perhaps have someone on board and I won’t have to lose them anyway.”

Herne Bay: Dan Eason, Toby Ashmore, Tom Bryant, Jamie Maxted, James Campbell, Tom Parker (Joe Nelder 109), Dan Lawrence (Rhys Lawson 57), Darren Marsden, Byron Walker, Ben Brown (James Turner 64).
Subs: Steve Hanson, Brad Ashmore

Goals: Michael Turner 44, Tom Bryant 103, Byron Walker 115 (pen)

Booked:  Ben Brown 29, Tom Parker 98

Hanworth Villa: Terry Buss, Lee Higgs, Joe Johnson (Shaun Preddie 72), Lee Morley, Adam Baigent, Steve Loveridge, Ricky Farnden, Jimmy Major, Lawrie Shennan, Levi King, Anthony Oaks (Leeyon Phelan 61).
Subs: James Woods, Charlie Hare, Matt Baines

Goal:  Levi King 70

Booked: Jimmy Major 33, Steve Loveridge 53, Adam Baigent 56, Lee Morley 109, Terry Buss 115

Sent Off:  Steve Loveridge 87, Adam Baigent 89

Attendance: 265
Referee: Mr Neil West (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Richard Joss (Margate) & Mr Mark Graves (Margate)