Sam Hasler settled this league encounter, that had more resting on it than Herne Bay would have liked, with a sizzling strike inside three minutes.
From then on both sides huffed and puffed without producing a killer blow.
For Crawley Down Gatwick, every game is a must win match if they are to escape finishing in a relegation slot. Spectres of a double figure defeat against champions elect Peacehaven & Telscombe and other 5+ reverses hang like a mist around them.
So much so that Johnny Maggs, a Herne Bay hero of the sixties between the Winch’s Field sticks, has been installed as manager with the task of keeping the Anvils in the Ryman League. His first action was to sign almost a whole new team before deadline day drawing on his former dealings in charge at Hastings United and Horsham.
With manager Sam Denly serving the last match of a two game touchline ban, the Bay were marshalled by assistant Gavin Thieze and coach Neil Brown. There was clear delight from those two and, no doubt, the home supporters, who have seen their side finish second in four of their last five outings, when Sam Hasler strode forward to take a free kick in the first real attack of the match.
Awarded a kick some 25 yards from goal on the right hand side of the visitor’s penalty areas, Hasler struck his effort with power and the ball nestled in the far corner a second later. He might have made it two in the twentieth when he collected Ben Brown’s left wing cross but Badiali saved with his legs.
Half time arrived with no real further chance for either side but after the turnaround, Crawley Down Gatwick accepted the challenge and went in search of an equaliser.
It almost arrived when new signing Baff Addae went on a twisting run in the 65th but Bay’s Delo came out to smother the chance.
Nine minutes later a better chance to equalise was presented then spurned. Delo misjudged a corner from the right but Ade Akande stabbed the ball wide, perhaps from a state of disbelief that the ball had reached his feet.
Eleven minutes from the end, Stuart King might have extended Bay’s advantage but his rasping drive from distance could only be parried by the Anvils’ custodian with the hard working O’Connell’s headed attempt from the fierce rebound rustling the side netting.
A second goal would have been harsh on the visitor’s, their season’s quest made harder by this defeat. Herne Bay will cherish the points as they lift themselves away from the trap door.
Herne Bay: Jack Delo, Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Harry Brown, Connor Sanders, George Benner, Nathan Eastwood, Ben Brown (Joe Nelder 75), Stuart King, Jamie O’Connell (James Turner 84), Sam Hasler
Subs not used: Dean Grant, Jordan Casey, Elias Settouf.
Crawley Down Gatwick: Luke Badiali, Charlie Slocombe, Akwasi Fobi-Adusei, Ade Akande, Bakari Sinclair-Smith, Stephan Hamilton (Tom Skelton 78), Steve Sargent, Karl Akehudi (Fope Coker 71), Baff Addae, Ramone McCra, Alex Addai.
Subs not used: Arnal Maga
Referee: S Kelly Assistant Referees: R Joss, J Down
Attendance: 101
Herne Bay (1) 1
Hasler 3
Crawley Down Gatwick (0) 0