Herne Bay celebrate Shield success (includes Saturday's headlines)

Kent League side Herne Bay achieved their first pre-season friendly victory with a 2-1 win over Folkestone Invicta in the tenth anniversary of the Titch Willett Shield.

With manager Jason Lillis away on holiday, it was left to Terry Sedge to gel the very youthful Herne Bay squad together to play Ryman Premier outfit Folkestone Invicta in the 10th anniversary of the Eddie Titch Willett Trophy.

A rather strange looking defence, with only Steven Lloyd and Jack Delo regular members.

New players Daniel Cook (ex Chatham Town U18), Mark Devereaux, (Sittingbourne) along with Stephen Baines blended superbly and apart from the opening 10 minutes never looked to be in any trouble throughout the game.

It was in this opening period that the visitors took the lead; centre forward Walid Matata cut in from the left and drilled a low shot between Delo and his near post.

It transpired at half time that the ball somehow found its way into the back of the net via a hole in the side netting!!

Fokestone were very dominant in the first period but Bay held on very well, restricting them to very few shots on target.

As the half drew to a close Bay found their way back into the game. Rhys Lawson, 18, playing wide on the right had caused his marker no end of problems, cut into the box turned his marker and was tripped.

Referee Mark Sage had no hesitation in awarding the penalty, his second for Bay in as many matches.

Up stepped burly striker Richard Dimmock who coolly hit the spot kick high to the keepers left.

Despite going the right way and getting a hand to the ball he could not keep the ball out.

Straight from the restart Ronan O’Connor raced through the Folkestone defence but his shot, although beating the keeper, flew inches wide of the post.

The second half was a revelation, the longer the game went on, the more Bay took control.

It was in the 63rd minute when they scored the all important winning goal. O’Connor pumped a ball over the defence, hesitancy between the defender and keeper allowed Danny Lawrence to race forward to reach the ball before the keeper and from a fully 25 yards out hit the most fantastic drive high into the open net while never breaking stride.

Bay held out to take the trophy outright for only the second time in its 10 year history much to the delight of the Willett family who presented medals to all participants including the three match officials.

Cray Wanderers defeated Welling United in a re-arranged friendly following the cancellation of their game at VCD Athletic. Former Welling striker Gary Abbott scored the only goal of the game for the Ryman League Division One South club.

Erith & Belvedere produced a dazzling performance to see off Ryman Premier
League outfit Margate at Park View Road.

The Deres, who on this showing will be title favourites along with the likes of Beckenham Town, Herne Bay, Thamesmead Town and Whitstable Town, dominated the opening proceedings, largely in thanks to a resilient defence lead by player/manager Wayne Brown, the Midfield dynamo Austin Berkeley, who controlled play in the centre of the field, and the useful combination of Vinnie Durrant and Mark Nougher down the left wing.

The match also saw the return of the ever-energetic Steve White, who had previously featured in only one of the Deres pre-season friendlies.

Assistant manager Leon Braithwaite, although yet to feature since the classic 1-1 draw against Beckenham Town on the last day of the previous season, is expected to return for the Deres Kent League opener away to Beckenham Town on Saturday.

White lined-up alongside newly signed Anton Smith, a muscly striker whose game is all about strength.

Both Smith and White showed their credentials for a starting place and former Trinidad & Tobago international Leon Braithwaite will not be guaranteed a place in Wayne Brown’s first eleven.

The first goal of the afternoon came after 37 minutes, courtesy of the grit and determination of Matt Johnson.

Johnson lost the ball in the middle of the Margate half but battled back to regain possession. Johnson then laid the ball of to Berkeley who fed in White. White checked back, looked up and fed in Johnson who caught the Gate keeper flatfooted and fired home.

The opening exchanges of the second half were dominated by Margate, but they struggled to break through the Dere’s defence and could only muster up speculative shots.

It was the home side that took their opportunity to score a second goal as Berkeley charged forty yards before being brought down six yards from goal.

White coolly knocked home the resultant penalty to seal a fine day for the Park View Road based club.

On Saturday evening it was announced that the Deres will play alongside Deal Town, newly promoted Faversham Town and last season’s basement boys Sevenoaks Town in the group stages of the Kent League Cup.

With Beckenham Town defeating Maidstone United 2-1 in the Kent League Challenge Shield, the Deres know that they will be in store for a tough game at Eden Park Avenue on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Deres conclude their pre-season campaign with a trip to Ryman League Division One North side Waltham Forest on Monday, kick-off 7pm.

The Deres, meanwhile, have appointed Keith Najdowski, LSSM(Dip), MSST, MISRM, MSMA, as their new physio.

He takes over from Ian Casselton, who has been forced to leave the club due to work commitments.

The Kent Football League Challenge Shield, the opening match of the new season, has been won by Beckenham Town, who defeated last season’s champions Maidstone United by two goals to one at Bourne Park.

First half goals from former Bromley and Gillingham striker Jones Awuah and Joe McDonald put Beckenham Town in a two-nil lead before former Beckenham defender Tony Sinclair scored a second half consolation for the Stones.

The draw for the group stages of the Kent Football League Premier Division Cup was made yesterday.

Group A: Herne Bay, Hythe Town, VCD Athletic, Slade Green, Lordswood

Group B: Erith & Belvedere, Sevenoaks Town, Faversham Town, Deal Town

Group C: Sporting Bengal United, Whitstable Town, Greenwich Borough, Croydon

Group D: Thamesmead Town, Beckenham Town, Tunbridge Wells, Erith Town

Shaun Welford and Simon Pettit both scored two goals each as Ryman Premier League new boys Ramsgate went rampant at Ryman Division One South side Horsham YMCA.

New signing Warren Waugh and Michael Yianni were also on target for the Rams in their 6-1 win.

Meanwhile, new floodlights will be installed and operational at Southwood Stadium before the club’s first evening game against Billericay Town on 5^th September.

Dartford stretched their unbeaten pre-season run to seven games following their 2-2 draw down at Bournemouth Poppies.

Eddie McClements and Ryan Hayes scored for Tony Burman's side down on the Dorset coast.

Ashford Town crashed to a 4-0 defeat to Ashford Town - the Middlesex version - at the Homelands.

Kent League side Whitstable Town were left in a jam before their 1-1 draw at Chichester United.

Marc Seager’s side arrived at the ground with the clock nearly showing 4pm after lengthy delays and getting a tad lost trying to find an alternative route.

Whitstable were understandably slow starting. “We never started playing until the 2^nd half,” admitted Seager, who was speaking to www.whitstabletownfc.co.uk

He said: “ I spoke to their manager and to be fair he said if you’d like half an hour for your lads to stretch their legs and do their warm up I have no problem with that. After all it’s a friendly and we know the problems you had getting here, with Goodwood races on and the road closure’s even our own players were late arriving.”

If only the ref had seen it the same way! Seager added: “The ref said, sorry but we start in five minutes as I need to pick my wife up from shopping." So it was no surprise when we went 1-0 down in the first half, I think most of the lads still felt as if they were on the coach.“

www.kentishfootball.co.uk would like to thank all our contributors for the above article. If your club would like to be included, please send in your reports - via the Contact Us button - and before 6pm on Sunday evening's and we will be delighted to publish them.

Special thanks to John Bathurst (Herne Bay), Thomas Hawes (Erith & Belvedere), Martin Hodson (Cray Wanderers) and Tony Rouse (Whitstable Town) for sending in their reports.