Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Hunter heroics not enough
Bostik South round-up
Herne Bay were comprehensively beaten at home by Hastings United on Saturday.
A double from Davide Rodari and a goal from Sam Beale gave the visitors a 3-0 win.
The score could have been much worse for Bay were it not for the goalkeeping exploits of Ben Hunter.
He was first called into action in the 24th minute when he kept out Rodari’s penalty before Hastings took the lead through their second penalty just before half-time. This time Rodari made no mistake with his effort.
Hastings’ dominance was rewarded shortly after half-time when full-back Beale doubled their advantage in fortuitous circumstances. His cross seemed to be heading out before it hit a divot and rolled into the far corner in the 50th minute.
Bay’s task of getting back into the game was made tougher when they were reduced to 10 men after Connor Wilkins was shown red. The referee deemed his challenge to be reckless and gave him his marching orders.
The result was sealed in the closing minutes when Rodari added his second from close range.
Herne Bay were due to play Hythe Town away on New Year’s Day but the match was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
The defeat left Bay 14th in the table and on Saturday they host second-placed Corinthian-casuals.
Faversham Town took just one point from their tough two matches over the new year period.
Cray Wanderers were too good for them on Saturday as they lost 4-2 to the side who were 17 games unbeaten in the league. After an even first 30 minutes, Cray took the lead when Lee Dawson headed home Michael Freiter’s corner. This opened the floodgates and four minutes later the home side added their second when Aaron Rhule scored from Ben Mundele’s cross.
The score was 2-0 going into half-time but it took Cray just two minutes to add their third with Freiter scoring from outside the box.
The match was over after 60 minutes when Mitchell Nelson steered in a fourth for the home side.
There was some late resistance from Faversham when they pulled a goal back in the 64th minute from a Danny Walder penalty. Harry Stannard added Town’s second in the 71st minute but the game was beyond the visitors by this stage.
Faversham did pick up a point on New Year’s Day at home to strugglers Ashford United who have seen a resurgence in recent weeks.
Town went into the match off the back of three straight defeats while United had back-to-back wins.
It was the home side who led at halftime thanks to Liam King’s strike in the 36th minute.
Ashford left it until 17 minutes from time before netting their equaliser through striker Andrew Dalhouse, who was on target for the fourth successive game.
The weekend results leave Faversham 17th and Ray Turner’s side travel to leaders Lewes on Saturday.