Corinthian-Casuals 1 - 3 Herne Bay
Bostik League South
Saturday 21st April 2018
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)

Corinthian-Casuals face a critical week ahead if they’re to keep their promotion ambitions alive following the 3-1 loss to Herne Bay on Saturday.

The result, coupled with Walton Casuals’ 5-2 win against Cray Wanderers means James Bracken’s side drop out of the promotion or playoff places for the first time since September.

Whilst a playoff place is still within the Amateur’s hands, two points from a maximum of 15 in their last five games is not promising form.

Casuals face Guernsey on Tuesday night in a ‘must-win’ match before travelling to the league’s in-form side, Hythe Town who’ve only lost once in their last fifteen matches. Corinth will need four points from their last two matches to guarantee a playoff spot.

On paper, the Herne Bay match was the easiest to pick up three points; Bay sit mid-table with little to play for other than pride.

It’s often the case that these can be the fixtures that cause the most difficulties. Teams play free from pressure with nothing to lose whilst blooding youngsters keen to shine or applying new tactics.

Whatever it was, Casuals have to feel a little unlucky in the first half alone. The home side found the woodwork on no less than three occasions. Twice was from set pieces from Josh Uzun. The first free kick evaded everyone and found the far post. The second was from a 20-yard free kick which smacked the right post and fell to Jack Strange barely two yards out. However, the defender didn’t make clean contact and somehow the scores remained level. The third came from a Max Oldham cross which found Harry Ottaway, who swung his foot and lashed home from 15 yards only to find the far post and out for a goal kick. On this evidence, it felt it was only time before Casuals took the lead.

It never came. The second half began with a lethargy not befitting a side looking to take advantage of other playoff sides losing. In fact, Casuals looked to join them. And so it happened. From a whipped in free kick, errors in judgement allowed Connor Wilkins to bundle in at the back post.

To make matters worse, Bay doubled their lead just after the hour mark when Sam McCallum found space to race through and poke past the oncoming Gareth Williams in goal.

Only at 2-0 down and the introduction of Jamie Byatt and Shaun Brown did things pick up. Brown’s first touch should’ve resulted in a goal, but played through, his shot was scuffed wide. Ben Hunter in goal also produced a fantastic save to deny Uzun.

Harry Ottaway gave the home side hope on 83 minutes when he beat Hunter to the touch and prodded home to reduce the deficit. Casuals had mounted some comebacks this season to great effect but this would be the toughest of the lot. Pushing forward naturally created holes at the back and so it was no surprise when a break down in play allowed Jake Embery all the time in the world to slam home the deciding third goal in stoppage time.

After the match, Manager James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.

“I said to the lads before the game today that we’ve lost three league games out of our last 21. It’s not a bad record by any stretch but the last five, we haven’t picked up a win. There’s no point in hiding it and saying we’re doing alright. We’re not doing alright.

“There are circumstances in every game where I’d say we haven’t taken our chances. We’ve had plenty and in crucial moments of the game. That sets the tone for the whole match. If we’d got one or two goals in-front today, I’d have no doubt that we’d have seen it out. We didn’t. We’ve ended up having to push forward and go for it which resulted in the third goal. When we came back to 2-1, I felt we would go on and get at least a draw.

“I told them that this was a must win game. But this is football; we had chances, we hit the post three times, balls on the goalline that should be put away… a lot of opportunities to take charge of this game. It’s not fallen for us. Again, the first two goals we conceded are really poor from our point of view.

“We can’t get too down about it. The season isn’t over. We must win on Tuesday night. If we do that, the maximum we’ll need on the last day is a point. That’s very doable. We beat them last season 5-0 and this season 3-1 at theirs. They’re a good side in good form but we need to worry about Guernsey now. Our season is in real danger of coming up just short.

“We must get in a positive frame of mind, be ready and get the team right.

“It’s our game in hand and if we get a result, we’re back up to joint fourth. We go into the last game of the season on an even peg with everyone knowing what we need to do. It’s in our hands.”

Herne Bay 1 - 4 Corinthian-Casuals 
Bostik League South
Saturday 6th January 2018
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)

Corinthian-Casuals continued their perfect start to 2018 with a resounding 4-1 win away at Herne Bay on Saturday, all but wrapping up the game within the first half hour.
 
An own-goal courtesy of Jonathan Richardson started the proceedings and was swiftly followed by a close range strike from Gabriel Odunaike and an audacious header from Josh Uzun. Despite Bay pulling a goal back in the second half, Hamilton Antonio sealed the three points when he rounded keeper Benjamin Hunter and slot into an empty net.
 
James Bracken’s side were out to avenge disparaging comments courtesy of the hosts in their match preview, insinuating that Casuals were a dirty side – with factual inaccuracies to boot. Though no encouragement is needed to pep up the team, it was one gratefully received by the manager to get across the importance of the win. 
 
Casuals travelled without Harry Ottaway, the late scorer in the 1-0 win over promotion rivals Walton Casuals on New Year’s Day but otherwise had a relatively unchanged side, with Reyon Dillon taking Ottaway’s place. Bay, vastly changed from last season under the departed Sam Denly sat 15th in the table, unlikely to threaten either playoffs or relegation.
 
Bay started brightly, pushing Casuals onto the back foot but it was the visitors who struck first, though with more than a helping hand from Bay’s captain Jonathan Richardson. With quarter of an hour gone, Max Oldham squared the ball to an unmarked Dillon hovering over the penalty spot. The striker’s shot rebounded off the post and careened off the incoming defender’s boot, lashing into the back of the net.
 
Two minutes later and it was 2-0. Bay’s defence were in disarray when the ball was played over to a waiting Odunaike at the far post who couldn’t miss, bundling the ball home to the sound of ecstatically-vocal away supporters.
 
Casuals tasted victory and pushed to kill the contest early. Max Oldham’s reaction to his blazing miss over the bar probably told all that he should’ve buried the chance. But Casuals were able to make it three on the half-hour mark. Josh Uzun’s improvised header impressively lobbed the 6’7” keeper and dipped perfectly under the stanchion to practically seal the deal.
 
Re-emerging in the second half, Casuals looked to have taken their foot off the gas too much and invited unwanted pressure, not seen in the first period. Danny Leonard stretched the defence from wide positions and his cross found Nassim Dukali who neatly finished past a stranded Danny Bracken to give hope to the home side. The goal stirred Casuals into action once again and Max Oldham saw his penetrating run and shot only find the side netting.
 
It could’ve – make that ‘should’ve’ been over minutes later. A perfectly weighted through ball was made with Dillon looking like the recipient, though breaking through the pack was Uzun, who found himself completely free with only the keeper to beat. Perhaps with too much time to think about what to do, Uzun chose the wrong option and blazed the ball over the bar. It felt like a pivotal moment in the match.
 
Thankfully, Casuals didn’t pay for the miss as substitute Hamilton Antonio this time burst through the defence beating Hunter to the ball and calmly slotting home into an unguarded net to the relief of the Casuals following. They looked to increase their goal difference tally with Malachi Robinson testing Hunter in the dying moments.
 
“It’s been a decent day’s work,” said Manager James Bracken after the win. “I’ve always maintained that we should try to start bright, get games put to bed as not many sides come back from three-nil down. If we do come off the pace slightly, you’ll likely get away with it.
 
“We should’ve scored more goals. Our decision-making wasn’t as good in the second half. They had more of the ball for short periods but we had some great opportunities to score. There’s been moments where we’ve shot when perhaps the better option would be to pass it across the goal for a tap-in.
 
“Three-nil up at half time and we’re comfortable. I have to credit the players as there was a lot of good performances out there today. Many of the boys stepped up a level that’s required from here on in.
 
“They put a bit of pressure on us before they scored a goal but we went and had the best two chances after that period, scoring ourselves. It wasn’t anything more than just needing to change one or two things which we did. I could’ve done it sooner but when a team has done well, got themselves well in front, you give them the benefit of the doubt for another 10-15 minutes. We did that, they scored, we made the changes and after that, there wasn’t a problem.
 
“The conceded goal was a bit sloppy and there’s bits to look at with play breaking down in areas where it shouldn’t. That’s where we invited their best attacks, through us not securing the ball.
 
“I’m not going to batter anyone too much over it. We’ve won 4-1 away from home and that’s one goal conceded in four games. If we do that every four games, we won’t be very far away.
 
“Cup quarter final at Hendon to look forward to now. I wanted to go there and put out what I feel is our best XI at the moment. Realistically, there’s one or two lads that have played a lot of football over the past couple of weeks who will be rested. We do want to get to the semi-final. We won’t go to Hendon on a Tuesday night just to make up the numbers. I’ve said in every round, I’ll put out a team that I believe is capable of winning and we’ll do the same on Tuesday.”  

Herne Bay 1 - 0 Corinthian-Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 1st October 2016
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pics here)

Corinthian-Casuals Boss James Bracken rued his side's missed chances as a solitary Herne Bay strike separated the two sides in the Ryman League Division One South.

Casuals hadn't drawn a blank in 27 games in all competitions. Despite key striker Shaun Okojie failing a late fitness test and in-form Shaun Brown unavailable, Bracken was still confident of getting a result against a side that sat nineteen places lower in the table.

With Warren Morgan also not available, Kojo Apenteng filled in at right-back, with Jack Strange and Niall Wright cementing their centre-back partnership that had seen two clean sheets in two games. The hosts were without key man Sam Hasler through suspension.

Casuals, looking to repeat their 1-0 win at Winch's Field last season, started the brighter of the two sides and began to craft chances. Maz Bettache's cross found Jamie Byatt ten yards out and his looping header was cleared off the line by a Bay defender. Less than a minute later, Jack Strange's powerful nod flew just over the bar.

Despite turning 35 a few weeks ago, Byatt continued to dog the defence and Jack Delo in goal saved well from the striker following a searching pass from Brandon Johnson. Delo was to deny Byatt again, coming out to claim well. The two Joshes combined to create an excellent chance. Gallagher, who's penetrating passes were excellent all afternoon, found Uzun on the left and the winger's strike narrowly passed the far post. The chances kept on coming; a parried shot by Delo led to a scramble in the six yard box with Gallagher and Byatt having real chances.

After the break, Bay looked to get into the game more and looked far more assertive than they had in the first half. Despite this, the Amateurs continued to push forward and more chances went begging after Bettache failed to convert a Byatt cross from ten yards out.

If it had felt like it was going to be 'one of those days' for the visitors, those thoughts were cemented when Juevan Spencer, picked out by Gallagher, found himself in a prime position to put his side ahead, yet dragged his shot past the near post when it seemed easier to score. A vital miss.

The inevitable happened; Herne Bay probed more and more, using the wide men to deliver dangerous crosses. First, the header that caused those in attendance to gasp as it whistled just over Danny Bracken's crossbar. Then the knock-out punch...with little over ten minutes remaining, Mark Lovell on the right, found Adam Woolcott who's shot was smashed in via the back post. It was Bay's only shot on target for the whole match but one that counted the most.

Casuals continued to get something out of the game but late chances for substitute Kevant Serbony and Maz Bettache failed to level the game and Casuals came up short for the first time since early March. Despite dominating most of the possession and creating the better chances, it's goals that win games and Herne Bay's one trumps Casuals' nil.

“We just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. That sums it up really,” said Bracken after the match.

“Their goalkeeper has got man of the match and rightfully so. But we've missed crucial chances at pivotal points in the game.

“I thought we were good with the ball throughout the ninety minutes. Defensively we looked good and limited them to one shot on target for the whole game, which unfortunately for us, went in.

“We're disappointed, but not with the performance... only the result.

“We have to remember that these boys aren't professional footballers and sometimes they're going to miss their chances. It's not a problem though. We'll come back next game and if we create the same amount of chances, we'll probably score two or three and win comfortably.

“So there's been no problems with the lads today. In previous games, we've had a lot to look at post-match – formation, defensive shape and balance between attack and defend, but today, there's nothing really to analyse. We've missed a few chances and that really is it. There's no blame to lay on anyone today. I thought they all grafted well. It's just one of those days.

“Missing Shaun Okojie is always going to be a blow; he's our top goalscorer but I thought Busy (Jamie Byatt) led the line fantastically. He competed for everything and worked his socks off.

“We'll bounce back just fine. This is a competitive league and anyone can beat anyone. We just need to brush ourselves down, approach the next game positively and get the win.”

Herne Bay move up a place to 21st in the table whilst Casuals sit in fifth.

​Herne Bay 0 – 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 20th February 2016
Winch’s Field
Attendance: 172
Match report: Stuart Tree. Images: Tony Fowles (full set here)
 
Corinthian-Casuals made it three wins out of four in the Ryman League Division One South after performing a smash and grab raid of all three points at playoff rivals Herne Bay.
 
Shaun Okojie’s 80th minute winner was the only goal to separate the sides and now means James Bracken’s Casuals are just one point outside the playoff places with eleven games to go.
 
Just two weeks ago, Bracken had offered a challenge to his players; win ten of the remaining fifteen fixtures. Since then, Corinth have defeated Guernsey, Chatham Town and now Herne Bay, with a shock 1-0 defeat against Walton Casuals being the only blip.
 
The result at the weekend was also the third clean sheet in four matches which has seen the Tolworth-based side score six and concede just one in that period.
 
Bracken gave the recently returning James Cottee his first start since re-joining in an otherwise unchanged line-up to that which succumbed to defeat against Walton Casuals in the week.
 
Goalkeeper Danny Bracken, who’s been in inspired form of late was once again in the thick of the action after Sam Hasler’s 14th minute strike was well matched. Just ten minutes later, Bracken thwarted the striker once again, tipping his well hit effort over the bar.
 
Early in the second half, Hasler was once again involved in the action after his penalty shout was turned away by Referee Mr Saul Kay. Bay were furious and the game quickly descended into a scrappy affair, with five bookings between the sides.
 
Then on 80 minutes came the decisive blow; a break down the left wing resulted in a cross which was met by Okojie at the near post, beating his defender and slotting home.
 
Casuals were able to hold on for the narrow win and leaves Sam Denly wondering where his side’s next goal is coming from having fired blanks in their past five matches.
 
Corinthian-Casuals host South Park on Saturday.

Corinthian-Casuals 1-2 Herne Bay
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 17th October 2015
Attendance: 151
Match Report: Darren Pasley
Pics: Stuart Tree (full set here)

“We don’t fear anyone” was the message from a defiant James Bracken despite Casuals 2-1 setback at home to Herne Bay.

Whilst the result moved Casuals down to 4th, the performance as a whole would have taken 3 points on most afternoons this season but the Kent side were victorious thanks to two own goals.

The visitors threatened early with Dan Johnson striding forward and having a shot saved by Bracken before Elliot Cutts was thwarted on the rebound by some determined defending.

In the 4th minute Emmanuel Akokhia was upended by the skipper Liam Quinn with a yellow card issued but Josh Uzun guided the free kick over.

A better effort from the in-form frontman came shortly afterwards but his volley sizzled just over after Juevan Spencer did well to create the opportunity.

Herne Bay had a shout for a penalty waved away in the 15th minute when Connor Sanders went down under a challenge from Danny Bracken. With a corner awarded the resulting kick saw the same player head over from 8 yards as both sides looked for the opener.

​Bracken was on hand to make a superb block after Frannie Collin was out through but in any-case the assistants flag was raised. Casuals best chances continued to come from range and Niall Wright was inches from opening the scoring as a 25 yard half volley flew just over.

The set piece delivery of Danny Walder at the other end was also causing problems and both James Turner followed by Quinn should have done better with headed efforts from the craft of visiting number 7.

With the pressure mounting from Casuals leading up to the break  Danny Dudley headed just wide from a corner and Spencer had a dangerous cross well defended as the visitors hung on.

Indeed just before the whistle Sekou Kaba still seeking his first Casuals goal was denied by his own team mate Kevant Serbony who blocked his seemingly goal-bound effort.

A competitive and even first half continued in the same vain after the restart. Walder having a shot blocked by Murray after good from from Danny Williams before Akokhia being denied by keeper Jack Delo after his first time effort appeared to be creeping in.

Casuals were starting to  build the momentum and one again Kaba went close this time side-footing wide after Spencer was denied again by keeper Delo.

Danny Dudley went even closer to opening the scoring from a corner but the defender on the post did his job before Casuals were hit by a sucker punch.

A 61st minute delivery from the left from Johnson appeared to present no danger but debutant left back Ben King saw the cross inadvertently glance off his head and past Bracken for the games opening goal.

If Casuals were to feel a little hard done by they had little time to reflect as within a minute they were level. With the ball pinged out the right Serbony strong on the tackle powered into the box and rolled across for Kaba to tap home and gleefully open his Casuals' account. (pic below)

In full-flow it seemed likely to only be one winner but a resolute home defence marshalled by a inform keeper kept the hosts at bay. Spencer coming closest when through on goal but with the keeper making himself big the ball was rolled agonisingly the wrong side of the post.

As earlier in the half the visitors scored again out of nothing with what proved to be the games 78th minute winner.  Williams allowed to get a cross in from the right and Danny Bracken under pressure from Collin tipped the cross into his own net. Despite the protest from keeper and defenders alike the goal was given.

The final 10 minutes saw the home side through everything at their opposition. Sub Cherno Mendy having a free kick well saved by Delo and Uzun volleying over. In the 4th minute of stoppage time Casuals believed they had salvaged a point when Uzun smashed an unstoppable drive towards goal. However not for the first time Delo pulled off an outstanding save this time flinging himself full length to his left and earning the points.

We’re disappointed not to get another win despite doing enough to do so,” said James Bracken after the match. “We deserved it but they’ve scored two poor goals and they’ve taken the win.

“Individuals should’ve done better for the goals and individual errors have cost us. We’ve got to defend better than that. But I’m not going to single any one out. We win, lose and draw as a team.

“We had two or three chances to score goals today. Throughout the second half, we’ve missed the target on pretty much every occasion. We have pulled out a few good saves from their keeper and we’ve been close with one or two other efforts.

“When a winning team’s goalkeeper is given man of the match by their side, that says more than I can.

Speaking of Ben King who made his debut, Bracken continued, “I thought Ben was fantastic. He played really well. He’s missed three months through injury and had a game last week for the reserves which he got through half injured. I spoke to him and he felt he was ready to come and do a job and he done more than that. He didn’t lose a header, performed for 90 minutes and looked good. He’ll only get better too.

“Every team has to look out for us. Our league position doesn’t lie; we’re up there on merit. I’ve seen a lot of the teams in this division now and we don’t fear anyone. It’s just about whether we can get things right and take our chances. We’ll always create and if we do take them, we’re in with a shout of doing good things.”

Corinthian-Casuals 0-1 Herne Bay
Ryman League Divison One South
Saturday 21st March 2015
Match report and pics: Stuart Tree

10-man Corinthian-Casuals succumbed to a strong Herne Bay side in the Ryman League Division One South and Boss Matt Howard was disappointed with the sending off on an afternoon which was heralded as the Surrey FA’s ‘Respect Day’.

In front of a decent crowd of 278, just minutes into the second half, Ross Defoe saw red for a second bookable offence and left Casuals having to re-organise following Sam Hasler’s late first half strike.

Howard said after the match, “Roscoe has let us down with the sending off. We spoke to him at half time knowing he was already on a booking. So for him to be sent of a couple of minutes into the second half was daft.”

Casuals were under no illusions that the match would be tough to get anything from; Herne Bay were looking to keep up pressure on Whyteleafe for the last playoff spot. To make matters worse, striker Jamie Byatt’s involvement was limited to a half time penalty shootout with the match mascots after serving a two match suspension. To add to Howard’s woes, creative midfielder Maz Bettache was also sidelined after attending hospital with a concussion following the 4-1 win against Carshalton. A second start was given to the lively Max Austin and Jake Gill returned to the line-up along with Jake Downs.

In a drab first half, where Casuals had set up to keep Herne at bay, the windy conditions saw Jack Delo’s goalkicks fly through to his opposite number Danny Bracken, whilst the Casuals’ stopper was forced to lay off the ball short. Max Austin had the best chance when his effort was turned onto the bar by Delo.

The majority of the possession was with the visitors but were unable to break down a resolute Casuals defence. Danny Walder came closest after firing a shot straight at Bracken.

But on 43 minutes, from a fairly deep wide position, Sam Hasler blasted a vicious wind-assisted shot right into the top corner leaving Bracken helpless. It was a strike of real quality and left Corinth deflated walking into the changing rooms.

Just six minutes into the second half and Ross Defoe picked up his second yellow of the afternoon. Whilst it was no question of being a foul, a yellow card appeared harsh and Defoe had no choice but to walk.

Yet it was Corinth who looked like they had the extra man for large parts of the half. Chances fell to Max Austin and Carl Wilson-Denis, both of which couldn’t find the target. Danny Dudley had a fine chance to equalise from a whipped corner and Jake Downs even got in on the action. With Casuals pushing forward, space opened up for the visitors but couldn’t quite capitalise. Bracken putting in a fine performance to prevent Steven Ita and Hasler from putting the game to bed.

In the final few minutes, Wilson-Denis somehow headed over from a golden opportunity and Bracken even pushed forward in scenes reminiscent of cup clashes when caution is thrown to the wind and it’s win or bust.

However, no more goals were added and Herne Bay made the trip home three points better off.

After the match, Matt Howard spoke,

"The conditions were atrocious today. We thought we were going to get in at half time nil-nil, which we’d have been over the moon.

"Saying that, I wasn’t overly worried about coming in at half time 1-0 down. Luke (Garrard) and I spoke after the first few minutes and said if we’re losing by one goal at half time, we’ll have that.

"But to concede it in the last minute of the half was a kick in the teeth. We addressed the problems and how we can change things in the second half. We had a go but never really looked like scoring.

"I think we’ve scored 60 goals this season and Jamie Byatt has got 26 of those. That’s 34 goals from everybody else in the squad and that’s not enough.

"Roscoe (Defoe) has let us down with the sending off. We spoke to him at half time knowing he was already on a booking. So for him to be sent of a couple of minutes into the second half was daft.

"It does show where we’ve come as a club that teams are over the moon to be hanging on against us."

Photos from the day can be seen here.

Herne Bay 2-1  Corinthian-Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 27th September 2014
Winch's Field
Final Score: 2-1
Att: 184
Report and Pics by Stuart Tree

A spirited second hlf performance from Corinthian-Casuals wasn’t enough to turn around the poor start made and Herne Bay held on for all three points in this Ryman League Division One South encounter.

Herne Bay have a terrific home record this season and coming into the match had taken 15 points from a possible 18. However, Casuals had won on their previous two visits to Winch’s Field and were looking to make it a hat-trick of victories to keep them within touching distance of league leaders Burgess Hill Town.

Matt Howard made two changes to the starting XI who defeated Chipstead in midweek with Juevan Spencer and Dave Hodges returning for the absent Jordan Vidal and Steve Goddard.

It looked like it could’ve been a good start for the Casuals as Jamie Byatt stuck the ball away after just one minute but was adjudged offside. Things were to get a lot worse for Casuals in the next twenty minutes. In the third minute, Herne Bay struck; Stuart King fired in from twenty yards leaving Danny Bracken in goal no chance. Herne Bay were up for maintaining their decent home record and looked lively as Casuals hung on. Things were to get worse in the tenth minute after Jamie Byatt was replaced by debutant Cisse Bamoussa when the striker pulled up clutching his hamstring.

In the twentieth minute, Bay made it 2-0. Stuart King once again on hand to fire the ball home after Danny Williams beat Bracken to a vicious cross which found the striker unmarked. Herne Bay were looking strong and Casuals were flustered at the events of the first twenty minutes.

But Casuals aren’t second in the league for no reason. Settling down, Corinth began to knock the ball around on the decent surface and on 25 minutes, Maz Bettache turned his marker and unleashed a well struck shot which keeper Jack Delo did well to tip over. Mason Welch-Turner, who didn’t stop running all afternoon provided crosses deep from the flanks which were dealt with the Bay defence but the momentum started to swing Casual’s way.

Danny Bracken came to the rescue in the 36th minute after Joe Nelder broke the Casuals back line and played in Williams who’s shot was palmed onto the post and back across the goalmouth. At 3-0, the match would’ve been over by half time.

After the break, as so often this season, Causals came out all guns blazing. Shane Graham made his debut coming on for Niall Wright and immediately started to help influence the run of play. The wing play of Graham and Spencer, and Welch-Turner and Hodges was proving to be a problem for the Bay defence. Jack Delo flapped at a Welch-Turner cross but the resulting fumble fell just short of Juevan Spencer and was gathered up at the second opportunity.

On seventy minutes, Carl Wilson-Denis, holding the ball up, was adjudged to have been fouled in the box and a penalty awarded. Lee Hall (pictured) stepped up to fire home his first goal in the Chocolate and Pink.

Sensing a comeback, Casuals pushed on and continued to bother the home defence. Lee Hall, Jevan Spencer and Wilson-Denis all  had shots blocked in the box and Maz Bettache’s free kick flew just wide of the keeper’s left hand post.

However, Casuals’ momentum was halted in an unusual fashion when play was halted for ten minutes after Herne Bay ran out of footballs to play. Confusion reigned and players and manager’s frustrations rose as the club couldn’t muster any replacements. With only four balls declared for play at the start of the match and no-one retrieving those that cleared the ground, all of Casual’s pressure was undone as the game finally restarted but ended in a damp squib. It was a most unusual and disappointing way to end a cracking game of football.

After the match, Manager Matt Howard spoke.

“We let ourselves down in a big way today. Starting games the way we have, we’ve almost got away with it up to now. At this level, you can’t start like that. Eventually you get punished and we have today. It’s a problem but the lads are addressing it amongst themselves.

“Credit to us second half; we’ve come out and played well but I am disappointed overall.

“The incident with the lost balls killed us. It lost us all momentum. It was embrarrasing.

“We’re not sure about Jamie’s (Byatt) injury. We’re having a look at it now and we’ll see where we are come Tuesday. The good thing is we’ve not got a game until Saturday so it gives us a little time.

“Mason (Welch-Turner) is getting better with every game. He’s only a youngster but he’s growing in confidence the more he plays. We’ll treat him carefully and he’s coming on leaps and bounds. The lads really like him too which is a massive help.

We’ll be okay. It’s a case of how we bounce back. The next two league games are hard ones but we’ll be ready!”

Full set of photos can be seen here.