Herne Bay 0 Thamesmead Town 3 (Thamesmead win 3-2 on aggrigate)

Tuesday 27 March 2007

Herne bay 0 - Thamesmead Town 3

By reporter Kevin White

Thamesmead produced an excellent performance to overcome a two goal deficit from the first leg semi final tie of the Kent Premier Division Cup to win 3-0 in the second leg to reach the final.

Mead carried on where they left off at Slade Green on Saturday with an unchanged line up dominating possession throughout the match.

After three minutes, Mead made a dream start in bizarre circumstances, when Dean Burns crept up behind the Bay keeper to nod the ball from his hand and slot the ball home. A physical Herne Bay attempted valiantly to defend their lead and reduced Mead to a couple of half chances in the first half.

The second half saw Mead come close on a couple of occasions, early on a Burns header skimming the post and then Thomas hitting wide just inside the area on 66 minutes.

With 88 minutes on the clock, Mead's perseverance paid off when Burns charged in to the box, only to be upended by a Bay defender, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty. Rikki Cable calmly stepped up to coolly slot the penalty home low to the keepers left.

The game was heading in to extra time with just seconds on the clock when Curtis Williams instigated a promising attack down the right wing. Barry Stewart, on the overlap, recieved a sweet pass from williams and pumped the ball in to the area which resulted in a high looping clearance which reached the feet of Sammy Thomas. Thomas watch the ball come down and from 20 yards out fired the ball in to the top corner of the net to set off wild celebrations.

Seconds later, the final whistle and a fantastic comeback achieved with Whitstable awaiting in the final to be played on May 5th.

Line-up: Manser, Williams, Deadman (Stewart 74), Brown, Kearly, Stirling, Mulholland, Knight, Burns, Cable, Thomas.