fretters wrote:

A far cry from the only other time I went there, when we prevailed by a single goal on a scorching mid August afternoon (think it was Forzoni's first game in charge).

Phew what a scorcher that was ! I've watched football matches in Rome, Naples, Bari, Sardinia and Sicily but none of them were anywhere near as hot as that day in Herne Bay I remember standing outside the bar smoking a fag and felt this bead of sweat run all the way down my spine and down the crack of my arse, most unpleasant 
 

Like yourself Cricket I found it uncomfortable to stand in the open, imagine what the players must have been feeling I can only guess.
I think that was their first game in our division and they certainly proved a difficult side, our goal was scored in the second half by one of the, over one hundred players  who turned out for us that season, during what turned out to be the Mark Beard era after Forzoni, and his clipboards.

Yes he did.  Beard was removed at the end of 2011 when Joe Sealey came in and we emabarked on our 7 year journey to the football league.

3 months later he was gone, but his manager stayed till the bitter end.  Forzoni took over at the beginning of the 2012/13, the year of 3 managers and 300 players.

I'm still not really sure if he got a fair crack of the whip, especially as we didn't exactly replace him with any proven quality.

Now, I realise that many of the Bog End faithful have plotted their way to Herne Bay already, but the thought of getting the high speed train from St. Pancras as opposed to the 'ordinary' train from Victoria had crossed my mind......

High Speed journey time from St. Pancras - 1hr 17mins (representative example: http://trains.im/schedule/W80023/2017/02/04/)

Ordinary journey time from Victoria - 1hr 29mins (representative example: http://trains.im/schedule/W80750/2017/02/04/)

So, to me, it's not that high speed - and it costs an extra £6.10 (£22.80 day return on normal, £28.90 on high speed) - worth saving a couple of pints worth to save twelve mins each way (and actually, a swiftly drunk pint takes about twelve mins, in company, so all relative )

All academic really as I'll be off to Gatwick in the morning with Mrs. P (and not to watch Crawley Down) but I was curious and this will be born in mind for future escapades.  Not all Bog Enders will have these implications, some have old school London Transport travel concessions (Fretters) and can go anywhere for pennies, and some (Statto) get it for nothing anyway 

Three more points well earned, and our two main rivals only managed a draw ( although I feel Greenwich are now less of a threat).
Keep up the good work lads.

Despite Herne Bays poor recent form, they were the better side for the first hour of this game. We went ahead but they soon equalised and it was only Mersons excellence in goal that kept the scores level at half time. Nothing much changed in the second half with Herne Bay again looking the stronger and going close on several occasions. We went ahead after an hour or so through Robinson with a fierce cross shot in off the far post following a short corner. But it was the introduction of Mike Dixon that really changed the game in our favour. The home defence had no answer to his strength, direct running and new found confidence and calmness in front of goal. A brace from him sealed the 3 points. The 4-1 scoreline suggests an easy win but flatters us greatly, it was an extremely hard fought victory.

A hard game to watch - we were under pressure for long periods and apart from the early stages we couldn't seem to get any meaningful possession.  But lets not forget that we had to deal with 2 late withdrawals which left us a bit light in the back division. But at the same time we showed a lot of grit and determination not to mention another good performance from Merson.  And a spoonful of good fortune. Even at 2-1 I would have taken a point! But as Herne Bay got more and more men forward we capitalised brilliantly to capture the points.

Over the course of a season, a promotion team will have a lot of good performances, but will also have to get results even when the chips are down. And that's what weve done in the last 2 games.

Plumpton wrote:

Now just to keep up the pressure against Three Bridges on Tuesday (same night as Omelette play host to Barkingside in the LSC) and the home fixture to Sittingbourne next Saturday!

Except that DHFC aren't doing that now - their replay FC cup fixture v Braintree taking place.  I'm gonna stop commenting on that LSC fixture now, it happens when it happens (I was hanging on in the vain hope that no slots would be available for DHFC and it would be an away walkover, but alas not).....

Spotted Sittingbourne also playing Tuesday - thanks to the members for putting the Herne Bay game into perspective and also the very interesting transfer news out there too.  I think T&M are in a very good position and the realisation on only about two-and-a-half months of the season left is getting the adrenaline going.  Again thanks for the posts, appreciated by a chap who otherwise has no social media and is abroad with the odd bit of wifi here and there to manage on : o