Lancing Starting XI:

Alieu Secka, Mohammed Zabadne, Liam Hendy, Will Berry, Harrison Parker, Darius Goldsmith, Finn Daniels-Yeoman (capt.), Modou Jammeh, James Rhodes, Lorenzo Lewis, Matt Daniel.

Substitutes: Isaiah Corrie, Gabriel Robinson, Mark Goldson, Danny Knight, Kane Louis.

The narrow 2-1 defeat in the away fixture gave Lancing sufficient confidence that they could mount a strong challenge to a team pushing for a top three position. Lancing began brightly, enjoying the lion’s share of possession. Even so, Herne Bay gave an early warning of their attacking threat when Liam Hendy was shoved off the ball giving Kieron Campbell a shooting opportunity which was wasted with a shot over the bar. A misunderstanding between James Rhodes and Mo Zabadne, as they mounted a promising attack, led to a breakaway by Herne Bay but this fizzled out without causing Lancing any difficulty.

Lancing had their first threat on the opposition goal after Liam Hendy hit a superb pass over the defence for Harrison Parker to run on to. His cross fell behind Matt Daniel and was only cleared as far as Modou Jammeh who switched the ball to Lorenzo Lewis who was able to get a strike on goal which was just off target.

Lancing were keeping the ball well with some good inter play in the middle of the park between Finn Daniels-Yeoman, Modou Jammeh and Darius Goldsmith. James Rhodes and Mo Zabadne were working hard to contain the dangerous Kieron Campbell. But, against the run of play, Herne Bay went in front on 13 minutes. Lancing were exposed on their left flank with Lancing forlornly hoping to see the offside flag being raised, but, instead, a strong run led to a cross which found Rory Smith well positioned to fire the ball into the keeper’s far right corner.

Lancing attempted to get back on level terms with James Rhodes finding Mo Zabadne breaking forward on the right. Mo’s cross reached Modou Jammeh but he could not get a good connection and his first-time effort flew wide. James Rhodes turned provider again curling a pass over the visitors’ defence for Matt Daniel but the ball ran away from the attacker.

Lancing continued to take the game to the opposition and a typical burst of pace from Lorenzo Lewis took him clear enabling him to put in a fine cross which had Matt Daniel desperately trying to get his head to, but it was fractionally too far in front. A fine spell of interpassing by Lancing ended with a foul on James Rhodes. After initially trying to allow advantage, referee Sean Jenkins awarded a free kick but Lancing could not capitalise on the opportunity.

A delicate flick by Finn Daniels-Yeoman was met by Lorenzo Lewis who returned the ball to Finn allowing to get close to the bye line and win a corner. As the ball came in to the box Lorenzo Lewis was able to side foot the ball but got underneath it and hit it well clear of the bar.

For 30 minutes or so, Lancing were well in the game but then the tide turned with Kieron Campbell bringing the ball under control expertly, breaking forward in an instant and bringing a good save from Alieu Secka. Campbell was then brought down by Mo Zabadne, earning him a yellow card. Alieu Secka was alert to save the free kick aimed towards the foot of the upright putting the ball behind for a corner. A short corner produced a goal bound effort which Matt Daniel was able to head clear.

On 39 minutes Kieron Campbell lofted a clever pass over Liam Hendy and Will Berry. Zak Ansah was waiting and, in turn, lofted the ball over Alieu Secka, who had advanced off his goal line in an attempt to close down Herne Bay’s top scorer. The ball ran into the empty net to give his side a 2 -0 lead. There were strong suspicions of offside but not enough to persuade the officials to disallow the goal

Lancing made great efforts to reduce the arrears before half time with a sustained spell of possession on the edge of the Herne Bay penalty area but the defence was well marshalled and there was no route to goal. Lancing finished the half with efforts from Lorenzo Lewis and Darius Goldsmith, neither of which hit the target.

With only 39 minutes gone, the game was put out of Lancing’s reach when Zak Ansah hit his second. Kieron Campbell outpaced the Lancing defence and hit a powerful shot which cannoned back off the upright falling into the path of Ansah who does not waste a golden opportunity. Campbell was now running the show for the visitors, occupying a more central role and came close again before being tripped by Harrison Parker, for which he received a caution, on 58 minutes.

Both sides introduced substitutes on 60 minutes. Isaiah Corrie replacing James Rhodes and Mobolaji Dawodu coming on for Bode Anidugbe. Two minutes later, Ansah had an easy task to put the ball in the net from close range after Harrison Parker was unable to clear the ball, which spun up and away from him, dropping perfectly for Ansah to complete his hat trick.

Mark Goldson, making a return to the squad after some weeks, replaced Matt Daniel on 63 minutes. Herne Bay made their final two substitutions on 65 and 69 minutes. Eddie Allsopp and Bradley Schafer replacing Mike West and Zak Ansah.

Lancing had not abandoned all hope of, at least reducing the arrears. Will Berry came close with a header from a corner and Mo Zabadne made a good break feeding the ball to Mark Goldson, who just failed to connect and get it on target. Persistence finally paid off on 74 minutes, when Modou Jammeh, who had been lively and involved in some of Lancing’s best moves, drove forward into the box, receiving the ball back from Harrison Parker and, keeping cool under pressure, hit a low shot beyond keeper Perrin. A just reward for a good performance.

Harrison Parker then stood down for Gabriel Robinson but Herne Bay, stung by conceding perhaps, upped their game in the final quarter and Lancing began to look vulnerable. Firstly, Bradley Schafer broke through to fire low past Alieu Secka on 80 minutes, and three minutes later, following a cleverly worked corner, Rory Smith made Lancing suffer with his second and Herne Bay’s sixth.

There was still time for Isaiah Corrie to give the home supporters something to cheer with a powerful burst cutting in from the right, keeping the ball under close control as he evaded four defenders before ending up on the deck in the penalty area. Lorenzo Lewis showed that he still had the legs to take on the opposition defence but he was felled with a crude body check by Laurence Harvey, which earned him a caution on 89 minutes, and which left Lorenzo in a heap on the floor, needing some time to recover. He came back on but could not continue.

This was always going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome but if you had left the ground after 30 minutes, you would have been staggered to discover that Lancing could have suffered such a heavy defeat. Up until this point they were competing well and playing some good football and not looking likely to be overrun.

Herne Bay had some top-quality forwards in Kieron Campbell, Rory Smith and 20 goal man Zak Ansah (incidentally in 2015 he was playing for the team I supported as a youngster, Newport County), who were clinical in front of goal. This win sees Herne Bay well positioned in 6th place on 57 points but if they win their game in hand would leapfrog Ramsgate into third place. But with the way other results went in the bottom third, Lancing slide down to 17th place on 31 points, but only three points behind Whitehawk in 13th. Sevenoaks are one place below on 30 points, followed by Phoenix on 26 and Whitstable on 23.

So, a tense few weeks ahead for our boys but if they play to the level we have seen in many performances this season, they should be able to climb the table.

This week’s match ball sponsor, Steve Monk of GM Monk Electrical chose Modou Jammeh as his MOM, a choice shared with the Committee. A good all-round performance, bags of energy and enthusiasm, capped off with a well taken goal. (And always a big smile on his face)

Our dedicated supporter, and match recorder, young Cameron August opted for Lorenzo Lewis.

Dave Wilmott