What a 24 hours it has been for Faversham Town. Going into this match in seventh, Faversham knew that they would have to win following the deduction of 3 points from former 5th placed Corinthan Casuals, for fielding an ineligible player, ironically in the game against Faversham.
They also knew they would need a massive favour from Herne Bay, a win at Hastings, to take the final playoff spot. And this they achieved, with a convincing 4-0 victory over Hythe Town, although the game wasn’t as one-sided as the scoreline suggests.
Hythe had complaints about Faversham’s opener on 10 minutes, Luke Harvey tapping into an empty net after a collision between goalkeeper Joe Mant and Liam King. Charley Robertson won and converted a penalty on 40 to double the lead, before Harvey scored a second with a header on 63. Josh Stanford rounded off the scoring on 88, five minutes after Craig Cloke’s dismissal had reduced Hythe to ten men.
Ray Turner, Faversham’s manager, appeared a little bemused at the combination of events at the end, but said “I try to stay quite calm, but it’s a little difficult to do at the moment. I’ve just texted Sam Denly and said I owe their boys a case of beer, but it’s been such a turbulent couple of weeks; from the cup final hammering, big defeats, big losses, disappointing performances, balls not going in the net, and the feeling that things were out of our hands. With the Corinthian thing happening yesterday, it’s just been a crazy 24 hours.”
“Now we’ve got in there (the playoffs) three out of the last four years, it’s such an achievement. You can see the talent in the side and we’ve got to go (to Dorking Wanderers) Tuesday with a lot of confidence now. Last time we were there we lost 5-1, but we made a lot of mistakes. It’s nice to put that performance together at this point, defensively we were solid, and I’m so proud of the boys. I think we are a top five side and let’s hope it’s going to be our year. Let’s go for it.”
When asked about the first goal, Turner admitted “I thought he (Liam King) had eyes for the ball, but it’s generally the case that goalkeepers get overprotected. You almost expected a foul but we got our rewards. When we needed to defend and get balls off our line, we did. Will has made two outstanding saves in the key period of the game when they were coming at us. But we always looked really dangerous on the break.”
The game started as a typical Kent derby, at 100mph, but it was Faversham who were creating the better chances. Ryan Cooper exchanged passes with Charley Robertson before playing the ball across the face of the goal, but none of the three white shirts could reach the cross.
Josh Stanford had an effort saved easily by Joe Mant, having cut inside Ben Wilson on the left of the area, but it wasn’t long until the deadlock was broken.
A long freekick by Renford Tenyue towards the area seemed to have been overhit. Liam King made an attempt to head the incoming freekick, in doing so colliding with Mant, approaching from behind him, which meant that the keeper dropped the ball at the feet of Luke Harvey, who was able to tap the ball into the empty net. Despite Hythe protestations, the goal stood.
On 16, Harvey rolled a ball into the path of Robertson inside the area. Mant was quickly off his line to block, leaving Robertson on the ground, but Hythe failed to clear their lines properly, leading to a half-chance for Liam King that he flashed across the face of goal and wide.
Hythe’s first real chances of the game came a couple of minutes later, and Faversham had Will Godmon to thank, twice denying Alfie May. Mant’s long freekick somehow bounced through to May 10 yards out. His first shot was parried by Godmon to his right, but the rebound fell back to May. Godmon got a hand to May’s second shot, but was grateful to John Scarborough sweeping behind him to clear, with the visitors trying to claim that the ball had crossed the line.
Hythe were enjoying a lot of possession around the Faversham area, with place kicks from both Frankie Sawyer and Ben Wilson especially dangerous, but the white wall, led by Scarborough and Matt Bourne, held firm.
Faversham’s second goal came five minutes before the interval, and was courtesy of the quick feet of Robertson. Cooper’s long throw was headed away by Nick Reeves towards David Botterill, but the former Lillywhite midfielder was caught out by the speed of Robertson, clipping his legs as he burst onto the dropping ball. Robertson picked himself up to beat Mant from 12 yards, even though the keeper guessed the right way.
Hythe ended the half on the front foot. Jack Harris flicked a header into the path of James Morrish, whose cross was perfect for May. The Cannon’s leading scorer hit his volley into the ground, but it was still heading into the top corner, until Scarborough deflected the effort over. This led to a sequence of four Hythe corners, but they could fashion a clear chance.
At this point, Faversham knew that their destiny was more in their hands, with Herne Bay leading 2-1 at Hastings, but it was Hythe who came out the quicker in the second half, although they still couldn’t get through the Faversham defence.
Harvey triggered a quick counter attack three minutes into the second half, turning and playing a pass onto King. The forward drove into the Hythe half and found a pass through to Robertson, who was denied by Mant’s decision to come quickly off his line.
May created a chance for Sawyer, but his low volley was scuffed into the ground, making it an easy save for Will Godmon, while Craig Cloke attempted a couple of long-range shots that failed to test the Faversham keeper.
The third goal arrived just past the hour. Robertson released the overlapping Cooper on the right wing. The Lillywhite’s skipper sent a pinpoint cross with pace to the back post, where Harvey was waiting with a powerful header that gave Mant no chance.
The home side were now happy to let Hythe have the ball and hit on the counter, and Matt Bourne’s clearance allowed King to spin past Cloke. The forward was bearing down on goal, inside the area, but was denied by an immaculate sliding tackle by Wilson.
Dean Grant was released behind the Hythe defence by Stanford, but Mant quickly closing the angle forced Grant to curl his shot past the right hand post. Tenyue, standing in a left back, then made a lung-bursting break forward, playing a one-two with Stanford, but dragged his shot past the post.
Cloke had clipped another shot just over, but was dismissed on 83, when he picked up a second yellow card for hauling Grant down while the forward was breaking on goal.
Faversham sealed the game with two minutes left. Robertson and Kieron Campbell combined to play Stanford in behind the Hythe defence, and although Mant managed to get a foot to the shot, it still had enough on it to travel into the net.
Hythe’s manager, Clive Cook was forthright as he summed up the performance as “terrible, awful. At least we’ve got it out of the way now. I’m a bit lost for words at the moment, disappointed doesn’t cover it. We just didn’t turn up, and everything we’ve worked for (getting to third) has been given away again. We weren’t good enough on the day.”
“We now got to go down there (to Worthing). We’ll get tonight out of the way and see where we go from there. We’ve got work to do, we’ve got to get (the playoff semi-final) out of the way now.”
FAVERSHAM TOWN: Will Godmon, Ryan Cooper, Renford Tenyue, Dan Carrington (Mobolaji Dawodu 53), John Scarborough, Matt Bourne, Charley Robertson, George Monger, Liam King (Kieron Campbell 78), Luke Harvey (Dean Grant 68), Josh Stanford.
Subs not used: Ashley Brown, Jamie Maxted.
Goals: Luke Harvey 10 & 63, Charley Robertston 40 (pen), Josh Stanford 88.
Cautions: Luke Harvey 48, Josh Stanford 59.
HYTHE TOWN: Joe Mant, Ben Wilson, Josh Burchell, David Botterill (Jon Pilbeam 46), Craig Cloke, Nick Reeves, Dave Cook (Jack Mahoney 73), James Morrish, Frankie Sawyer, Alfie May (William Thomas 84), Jack Harris.
Subs not used: Louis Sprosen, John Walker.
Cautions: Craig Cloke 35, Jack Mahoney 79, James Morrish 85.
Dismissed: Craig Cloke 83 (2nd yellow).
Attendance: 368
Referee: Mr R Whittaker
Assistants: Mr S Rudd and Mr A Stacchini