Sutton Valence fielded a bare 11, whereas Herne Bay were fortunate to have a couple of subs, which proved greatly beneficial towards the end of the game as the sun shone bright.

Sutton Valence opened the goal frenzy early on. The ball was played into the D with pace, skipping past a number of defenders and attackers, only to take a light deflection off vice-captain Rod Harcourt’s stick, taking the sting off the pace. Fortunately, it stopped almost dead at Rob Cockayne’s feet, who walloped the ball into the back of the goal to take the lead.

The lead was short lived however, as a penalty flick was awarded to Herne Bay for over-physicality in the D whilst an attacker was primed to shoot. A well-taken flick sent keeper Ross Mackay in the wrong direction.

Herne Bay were shortly after awarded a second penalty flick after the ball was saved on the line by a defender’s foot. The attacker went for the bottom right, however Ross Mackay managed to guess the direction and make a diving save with his glove, one which even his childhood hero Bruce Grobbelaar would have been proud of. Some say that on a windy day, if you stand downwind of the Queens Head anywhere in Kent, you can hear the whispers of Mackay telling the fable of the day he heroically saved a penalty flick with a professional level diver (however, omitting the part where he hurts his back in the process and can’t get off the floor afterwards).

The second half soon came around, with Sutton Valence managing to take the lead once more. The attackers managed to break away, with Rob Cockayne, Archer Ripley and Cullen Elson left on a three-on-one situation with the Herne Bay keeper following a rapid counter-attacking move. Ripley and Elson played some clever on-two passing, rounded the keeper for Elson to claim the finish.

Herne Bay soon pulled a goal back to level the scores at 2-2.

Sutton Valence then took the lead for the third time, with Elson superbly positioned at the back post to latch onto the end of a hit into the D from Cockayne. But surprise surprise, Herne Bay pulled back an equaliser, and a fourth goal in quick succession to take the lead for the first time in the game.

Sutton Valence battled hard despite their fatigue. They pulled level when Cockayne made a break down the right. The Herne Bay keeper stepped off his line to anticipate cutting out the cross to lurking Darren Thompson, only to step too far out and allow Cockayne to rifle in a shot behind him.

4-4 with 15 minutes to go. Both teams battled hard, but Herne Bay managed to score two goals in quick succession by dragging the Sutton Valence defenders out of position, to leave the middle of the D undefended. Despite their best efforts, Sutton Valence were unable to get any last-minute goals.

A 6-4 win for the home side in an enjoyable and well-umpired game, which could have gone either way on another day.

Team sheet:
Rob Cockayne
Ross Mackay
William Vanns
Archer Ripley
Stuart Edmed
Darren Thompson
Mike Stapleton
Cullen Elson
Bob Sagrott
Alex Stanford
Rod Harcourt

Goal:
Rob Cockayne (2)
Cullen Elson (2)