Sevenoaks Town 2 Herne Bay 2 (EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS)

SEVENOAKS TOWN 2
Nick Reeves 9
Dominic Websdale 52

HERNE BAY 2
Richard Styles 14
Shaun Brown 30

Stephen McCartney reports from Greatness Park
Kentish Observer League

Herne Bay manager Jason Lillis was angry with his players after they were held to a draw by struggling Sevenoaks Town at a bitterly cold Greatness Park today.

With Ramsgate moving to the top of the Ryman League first division with a 1-0 win at Whyteleafe today, Herne Bay, who finished runners-up to Jim Ward’s side last term, are “struggling” in the top seven of the Kentish Observer League this time around.

The former Gillingham star has warned changes will be made, and he raged: “Three points definitely lost there. We just didn’t take our chances. We got sloppy and let them back into the game. But that’s football I suppose. The boys know they’ve let themselves down.”

Sevenoaks Town, however, fully deserved their ninth minute lead as they took the game to their North Kent visitors during a good early spell.

Striker Nick Reeves opened his account with the Greatness Park outfit when he brushed aside Stephen Lloyd and from the left hand side of the penalty area drove his shot across goalkeeper Jack Delo and into the far corner.

Their joy, however, was short lived as Herne Bay equalised just five minutes later when Richard Styles rifled a shot into the right corner giving goalkeeper John-Paul Green little chance.

That goal was the catalyst for the visitors to start dominating proceedings and they deservedly took the lead on the half-hour mark.

Full credit must go to Kevin Eldridge for his box-to-box run, keeping hold of the ball before threading the ball to striker Dave Masters, whose looping shot from the edge of the penalty box came back off the crossbar but his prolific strike partner Shaun Brown was there to nod home from close range.

Spirited Sevenoaks, however, clawed themselves level seven minutes into the second half.

Energetic midfielder Kris Hollidge sent over a cross from the left, which was met by Dominic Websdale’s looping header, and although Delo got a finger to it, he couldn’t prevent the ball dropping into the net.

Goals for Sevenoaks are like gold dust this season and that was the club’s TENTH league goal from 19 league outings and was Websdale’s second of a torrid campaign for his side.

Herne Bay had chances to go on and win the game - but failed to take them.

Shaun Bremner, whose brother Leigh plays for Ryman Leaguers Cray Wanderers, saw his header clip the crossbar, after Dave Soutan’s throw into the penalty area was flicked on by Lloyd.

Lillis made a couple of substitutions and one of them, Owain Williams’ urgency carved open a long-range chance for Eldridge, which was tipped over by Green.

Styles’ cross was met by a towering header by Lloyd, which was comfortably saved by the former Beckenham Town goalkeeper.

Herne Bay substitute Stuart King claimed his 81^st minute shot had crossed the line but his appeals were turned down by the match officials.

Sevenoaks were at this stage hanging on, but joint-manager Derek Moore admitted he was happy with the point.

He said: “I thought the first twenty minutes we were exceptional. We carried on from our performance at Thamesmead the previous week and the lads are doing exceptionally well.

“We managed to keep the ball a little bit better than we have previous games. I thought we deserved a point today.”

Lillis, however, rued his side’s missed chances, and added: “We’ve created chances, which is a good sign because you’re always in with a chance but when you get sloppy you let teams, that you should be coming here and winning, you’re going to get bitten and we did today. We will work on it (in training) Wednesday.”

Herne Bay face Sporting Bengal at Winch’s Field in seven days time, whilst Sevenoaks Town travel to Bourne Park, Sittingbourne to tackle local rivals Maidstone United.

The East Londoners, however, haven’t warmed to the Kent League for their behaviour as they tend to lash out on opponents when things aren’t going well for them.

“We played them last week in the cup, beat them comfortably 3-0 but their a horrible side to play against and the boys have got to be mentally right for it,” said Lillis.

“Their not the best side in the world but I can’t believe a team from London play in the Kent League but that’s not my decision.

“I just think some of them need looking at and the league needs to look at their behaviour record.”

Looking ahead to their game at Maidstone United, Moore added: “Alan Walker and Lloyd Hume are great old friends of mine and most of the Maidstone side were at Tonbridge Angels when I was there.

“We feel we can put on a display down there that make Sevenoaks Town proud.

“We go to Maidstone full of confidence, morale in the side is very good - we’re a developing side.”

Although his side are in the bottom three, Moore and Bob Pittaway, who took over the reigns in November, insist they’ll finish higher in the table, although they’ve only got 11 games left.

Moore said: “We set our sights out early. We’re pretty confident we can achieve at least a bottom half of midtable position now. That’s our goal and we look to build for next season.”

Sevenoaks Town: John-Paul Green, Ryan Hackett, Andy Mills, Perry Spackman, Darren Pearson, Dwyane Okocha, Kris Hollidge (Capt), Charlie Hawkes, Nick Reeves, Dominic Webs dale (Luke Welland 87), Mike Cook (Mike Maunsell 68).
Subs: James Short, Joe Barry, Lloyd Glasgow

Herne Bay: Jack Delo (Capt), Nathan Eastwood, Shaun Bremner (Owain Williams 75), Gary Cook, Stephen Lloyd, Dave Soutan, Marlon Button (Stuart King 72), Kevin Eldridge, Shaun Brown, Richard Styles, Dave Masters.
Sub: Neil Brown

Attendance:
Referee: Mr Simon Finnegan (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Roy Dibbs (Otford) and Mick Kent (Sittingbourne)