Lydd 7–4 Herne Bay

Lydd certainly did it the hard way this week, having to come from behind three times before finally taking control of a thrilling encounter with Herne Bay.

The hosts started brightly, with their first attack being snuffed out by the Lydd defence. However, their next attack proved more fruitful as a through ball released the striker, who calmly slotted the ball past Harris to put Herne Bay 1–0 up.

Lydd responded on 20 minutes. Conceicao combined well with Williams, who showed great composure to beat the keeper at the near post and bring Lydd level at 1–1.

Herne Bay regained the advantage seven minutes later when another through ball caught Lydd out, allowing the hosts to restore their lead at 2–1.

Just before half-time, Lydd produced an excellent response. A ball from Long found Williams on the edge of the box, and she spotted the keeper off her line, producing a superb lob to make it 2–2 at the break.

The second half couldn’t have started much worse for Lydd. Within a minute, poor defending gifted the ball to the Herne Bay striker, who made no mistake from the edge of the box to put the hosts back in front for a third time.

But once again, Lydd refused to lie down.

Hughes and Marshall combined brilliantly down the right before delivering a dangerous cross into the box. Conceicao was on hand to make no mistake, firing home to level the scores once again at 3–3.

Lydd were now beginning to find their rhythm, and some excellent battling from Burren in the box saw her manage to get a cross away. Conceicao was there to finish from close range, completing the turnaround and giving Lydd their first lead of the afternoon at 4–3.

The visitors were now creating chance after chance. Conceicao latched onto a loose ball from the Herne Bay defence and raced clear before calmly slotting the ball past the keeper to complete her hat-trick and make it 5–3.

Herne Bay were awarded a penalty soon afterwards and converted from the spot to reduce the deficit to 5–4, setting up a tense finish.

However, the scoring wasn’t finished.

A lovely ball from Tanner sent Phillips racing through, and she smashed her shot past the keeper to restore Lydd’s two-goal advantage at 6–4.

Then Tanner was involved again, picking out Burren with another excellent ball. Burren used her strength to hold off the defender before finding the back of the net — a goal her performance thoroughly deserved.

7–4 to Lydd was the final score.

It was a fantastic game for the neutral — although perhaps the sort of match that makes the coaches go grey!

Thoughts from Andy

“It wasn’t the best first half from us, but we kept ourselves in the game against a good, young Herne Bay side.

In the second half, once we got in front and the confidence grew, we showed what we’re capable of.

It shows that the team have character and the ability to keep going despite the setbacks. We’ll look at what needs to be worked on and go again next week.”
#upthelydders
Lydd Town FC Ladies are kindly sponsored by Oscar Acoustics