© Copyright Herne Bay United 2011

Follow us on Facebook

Premier League: HBU 7 VS 5 Kings Lynn HBU now Top of the Table!

Posted by HBU Admin on December 10, 2012

Herne Bay United 7 – 5 Kings Lynn
Date: 15.12.12; Time: 6.15pm; Location: The Bay Arena
Herne Bay United pulled off the comeback of 2012 by coming from 4 goals down to beat Kings Lynn 7-5 on Saturday night.
HBU knew that a win would put them top of the league going into the new year. Kings Lynn are currently 6th in the league. United having beaten title contenders Middlesbrough the week before started the game slowly. Kings Lynn showed that although bottom of the league they are a good side. With 17 minutes remaining in the first half Josh Taylor scored from close range to put the visitors ahead. 2 minutes later Taylor capitalised again on some schoolboy defending by United to go 0-2 up. HBU were all over the place at the back and were slow in attack. United though continued to struggle in defence, every Kings Lynn attack looked likely to end in a goal. With 13 minutes left in the first half J Tucker scored to give the visitors a 0-3 lead. Sensing United were there for the taking, Kings Lynn started to believe they could cause an upset, they continued to dominate the play and went further ahead when Taylor scored his hat-trick to make it 0-4 with 10 minutes left in the first half. Finally United started to play with a little more urgency, it was vital that they got into the game. The match had so far been completely one sided. Then with 8 minutes left in the first half Neil Austin score from close range to make it 1-4. There were no more goals in the first half and the teams went into the break at 1-4. United’s manager Phil McVey read the riot act to his team at halftime, the players knew their 1st half performance was simply not good enough.United came out for the second half with a determined look about them, they pressed Kings Lynn right from the start. 5 minutes into the half Fabio Vicente started the comeback when he scored with a shot that deflected in off the post to make it 2-4. United were now beginning to create more chances, and with 17 minutes to go Vicente scored again to make it 3-4. Kings Lynn continued to battle through and they thought they had stopped United in their tracks when Taylor scored his 4th and their 5th to make it 3-5. Again United looked to be in trouble, they were now 2 goals down with only 10 minutes left, and they were on 9 teams fouls. One more team foul conceded and Kings Lynn would be awarded a penalty. They knew they could not afford a single mistimed tackle. Despite this United continued to press their opponents, with 7 minutes left United scored 3 goals in a minute, first Danny Butcher scored a great solo goal to close the gap to one goal, then Rodrigo Carvelho deflected a long range effort past a stranded keeper to make it 5-5. Carvelho then put United 6-5 up with another poachers goal. There was still 6 minutes left in the game and with United being one foul away from Kings Lynn getting a penalty the atmosphere was very tense. Kings Lynn did create another couple of very good chances but could not find the back of the net. Then with 1 second left on the clock Carvelho scored his 3rd and United’s 7th of the game to secure the 3 points.

After the game, man of the match 3 goal Rodrigo Carvehlo said: “At 0-4 down we were looking at defeat, but we pulled together as a team and we managed to turn in around in the second half. We made too many mistakes in the game, our manager was not happy with us at halftime. But we listened and we responded to his words. We go into Christmas top of the League, we now need to make sure we do not make the same mistakes next time.”
HBU manager Phil McVey said: “I knew we were in trouble the moment I turned up, the mood in the dressing room was not right. I had a feeling the lads thought they had already won the game. I warned them Kings Lynn are a good side and will punish us if we are not on our game. I wasn’t though expecting to go 4 goals down! Once we were in that position the controlled hockey I have been looking to play went out the window, it was all about applying pressure and grinding out the win. Great credit to the lads though, they all pulled together, dusted themselves down and collectively turned the game around. That is now the 3rd game in a row we have been losing going into the last 7 minutes of the match and we’ve gone on to win all 3 games. The habit of just winning games is a good habit to have. Ideally I would rather have a comfortable lead going into the last ten minutes of the game but I am delighted with the 3 points. I do have to give credit to Kings Lynn, I thought they were excellent with their ‘keeper outstanding. This is now the most competitive league we have had in my lifetime. On a given day any team in the league can beat anyone else. It’s great that we are sitting top at Xmas. This year is all about developing a young team to compete for years to come, so far so good, we have played 5 and won all of them. There are 5 teams challenging for the League Title this year, the favourites to win the title have to be Bury. We play Bury next on 5th January at their place, so the New Year starts with our toughest test of the season to date.”

HBU: Daniel Barton (GK), Eddie Mount (GK), Neil Austin (1), Karl Smith ©, Fabio Vincente (2), Rodrigo Carvelho (3), Danny Butcher (1), Tom White, George Holmes, David Todd.
Man of the match: Rodrigo Carvelho