A very off-colour Hythe Town suffered a surprise 4-2 defeat on Saturday at bottom off the table Haywards Heath Town on a damp and windy afternoon.
Hythe, who were unchanged, in fact started the brighter but it was the hosts who created the first opportunity on three minutes as Samual Ogunseye spun but turned his shot over the bar.
The Cannons started to have the lions share of the game at this stage and had an attempt on eight minutes as Darren Oldaker, from the left, blasted across the face of goal. Oldaker was in the action again when he hit a rasping free-kick from 25 yards that was pushed around the post by Haywards Heath keeper Sam Freeman.
The Cannons were increasing the pressure without breaking through with the next chance coming at the other end as Jordan Clark hit a dipping shot just over the cross bar.
Hythe at this time looked the more likely to break the deadlock as Oldaker crossed into Dean Beckwith whose shot was blocked by the defence. The hosts got their noses in front on 31 minutes as Clark had a shot blocked which came out to Kieran Rowe who stroked the ball home.
However, the lead was only to last eight minutes as an Oldaker free kick from the left looped over to Beckwith who headed home his first Hythe goal.
On the stroke of half-time the visitors found themselves behind as the defence failed to clear the ball and Michael Hill was on hand to thread the ball home to give Haywards Heath a 2-1 half time lead.
Things got worse ten minutes in the second half as Hill cut through the Hythe defence to slot the ball past Hythe keeper Nathan Harvey. It was now Haywards Heath who were on top as Hill unleashed a shot that drifted just wide.
The game was put out of The Cannons’ reach on 68 minutes as a Rowe cross was not intercepted by the Hythe defence finding its way to Tom Gilbert to tap home from close range. Chances fell to Hythe for Frannie Collin and Nick Dembele with the latter forcing a save from Freeman. Deep into injury time Hythe got a consolation goal as a poor clearance from Freeman was intercepted by Nick Dembele who blasted home.
After such a good run of form, it was a very disappointing performance from Hythe but they have the opportunity to bounce straight back as they entertain Sittingbourne on Tuesday evening (October 27th) – Kick off will be 7:45pm.
Team: Nathan Harvey, Liam Smith (Charlie Webster 68 mins), Nathan Gordon, James Rogers, Dean Beckwith, Tom Wynter, Kaka Dembele, Darren Oldaker, Tom Walmsley (Nick Dembele 68 mins), Alex Brown, Alex Flisher (Frannie Collin 61 mins).
Scorers: Haywards Heath Town – Kieran Rowe 31 mins, Michael Hill 45 & 55 mins, Tom Gilbert 68 mins. Hythe Town – Dean Beckwith 39 mins, Nick Dembele 90 mins
Attendance: 230