Cold clogs the gears at Herne Bay.

On a morning where more than one person in the Club had to work very hard to ensure games that could be
on were on, Herne Bay, being close to the North Sea, advised their games were on early! It was cold and calm at Herne Bay, which was not what was going to happen shortly in the game, but there were areas of frost on and under the pitch, which made sure the ball was going to move quicker than normal and have no bounce from any aerials.
Valence lost the toss, and had to play facing into the low sun, making it difficult to find players as they all appeared to be wearing black. Valence had Captain Mark Whitmill in goal and another 11 players rotating through the formation.
The game started with Herne Bay playing with a strong mid-field which pushed/pressed and opened space
in the middle of the pitch, allowing them a goal early in the game. Cold conditions, low sun, stiff limbs, and the normal long drive to Herne Bay all contributed to Valence starting too slowly for this game. They could not find the rhythm/position to apply pressure in the first half. Too many balls being passed to the opposition led to Valence being 4 down at half time. Andy Barr took a knock across the knee, so his mobility/skills were missed in the game too as he took refuge in his car for the second half.
However, there were signs of revival with Capt Whitmill’s half time speech, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Henry V "Once more unto the breach, dear friends”. Players were moved, literally, Rob Cockayne to Sweeper, Ben Tragett forward with a dicky hamstring, as Valence hoped to slow Bay’s attacks down. Alex Hodges rekindled Valence pride with a wonderful run from defence to score an excellent solo goal in the mid/late second half. However, as Valence tired, Herne Bay managed to get more pressure, more short corners and to score 2 more goals.
On the day, Herne Bay were judged as better than Valence who could not find the links between defence, midfield and forward in a way that allowed them to pressure Herne Bay; it was more a day of damage limitation in defence, with Mark Whitmill saving several certain goals.

MoM - Alex Hodges for his goal