WHITSTABLE TOWN U23 4 HERNE BAY U23 0
The DFDS Kent Intermediate Cup Second Round
Tuesday November 26 2024 19.45

‘El Coastico’ was in full swing last night as Herne Bay came to hosts Whitstable Town for a Kent Intermediate Cup Second Round match, in front of a large crowd.

The early stages of the game were quite even with both teams having a couple of good chances in the first 15 minutes, the closest being Thomas Ansell hitting the post. Finley Lumpkin made a couple of good saves to deny the visitors when they got into threatening positions. However, it was a Manny Cuttress goal that opened the scoring from a Jack Cooper header back across the box.

Manny then grabbed his second goal, capitalising on a mistake at the back from Herne Bay and putting the Oysters 2-0 up before the break for a deserved lead.

The second half started and Whitstable found themselves 3-0 up within minutes when Nico Grierson took a chance from just inside the box. The game became more stretched as Herne Bay piled bodies forward to make some more pressure with a couple of good crosses.

The game was then done when Ben Phillips set up Nico on the edge of the box for a powerful strike into the opposite corner.

The Oysters managed to see out the game in a professional way, keeping a clean sheet and fully deserving the win. Fair play to Herne Bay as they kept playing until the very end, but this time the Oysters came out on top of ‘El Coastico’ to earn their place in the last eight of the competition.

Our Under 23 squad are next in action on Saturday with an away game at Kings Hill in the Kent County Football League Division One, then on Wednesday 4th December they travel to play Snodland Town in the SCEFL Development East Division.

Whitstable Town team:
1 Finley Lumpkin
2 Owen Beake
3 Oliver Dudman
4 Tagan Kray
5 Jack Mulford
6 Jack Cooper
7 Jack O’Neill
8 Nico Grierson
9 Manny Cuttress
10 Thomas Ansell
11 Josh Bedzrah

Subs (used):
12 Ben Phillips
14 Harry Baptiste
26 Anzhel Petrov

Subs (unused):
18 Joel Pickard
21 Callum Mason

Goals: Manny Cuttress 2, Nico Grierson 2.
Yellow cards: Owen Beake, Jack O’Neill.

Referee: Harrison Clark
Assistants: Ryan Cole & James Folan-Young