Erith & Belvedere 2-1 Herne Bay

Sunday 04th March 2007

Erith & Belvedere made it four Kent Premier League wins on the spin courtesy of an excellent second half comeback - this despite the Deres being down to 10-men for two-thirds of the match after Lee Morgan was dismissed, writes Thomas Hawes.

The encounter had started out as a fairly even affair, with chances few and far between in the opening quarter of the game.

Then came a major turning point to kick the game into life. It appeared as if the Deres should have been awarded a free-kick on the halfway line when Micky Collins was fouled, but the referee disagreed.

With the crowd fuming at the referee for failing to give the decision, Morgan lost his head and put in a horrendous two-footed tackle on a Herne Bay midfielder. The referee showed no hesitation in sending off the defender.

Things were to get worse for Erith & Belvedere as Nigel Pointon gave Bay the lead just a minute after the sending off with a delicate lob over Alan Hughes.

The second half started in much the same way as the first, with little action at either end, but the match sprung back into life after 70 minutes as Matt Johnson, who was unusually playing on the right side of midfield, cut the ball back to acting striker Adrian Deane just inside the area.

The chance had appeared to have been squandered when Deane’s first touch wasn’t the best, but the Irishman composed himself before rounding the defender and tucking the ball past a helpless Jack Delo in the Herne Bay goal.

The action wasn’t over though as a two minutes later, Herne Bay had a goal disallowed for offside.

On 75 minutes, the comeback was complete. Substitute Steve White showed he still had the pace and skill which has earned him 77 Deres goals as he charged into the box.

He also showed his composure as he laid the ball on a plate for Tom Maycock to fire home the winner from a yard out.

Herne Bay were understandably shell-shocked having conceded two goals to the 10-men of Erith & Belvedere and could only produce speculative efforts at Alan Hughes’ goal, but the Deres held out to take the win.

Erith & Belvedere: Hughes, Bedford, Diggins, Morgan, Gross, Maycock, Johnson, Berkley, Collins (Gonzague 31), Deane (Percey 84), Nougher (White 74).
Subs: Crawley, Smith

Herne Bay: Delo, Eastwood, Summers, Cook, Lloyd, Denly, Lawson (Dimmock 57), O’Leary (Ward 79), Harvey, Soutan (Brown 45), Pointon.
Sub: Firth

Attendance: 106


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