Herne Bay were able to continue their good start to the season after beating a Hythe team who played most of the second half with ten men.
Despite both sides having a successful pre-season, it was the visitors who had the better form coming into the game, having convincingly beaten Sittingbourne 3-1 on the first weekend of the season. On the same day Hythe returned from their game against South Park without any points following a 1-0 defeat.
The hosts made one change from their disappointing opening day defeat, with Jordan Wells replacing John Walker, forcing Dan Stubbs to retreat to full-back. In the opposite dugout Sam Denley made two changes from his side’s weekend win with Nathan Eastwood and Connor Sanders replacing Harry Brown and Danny Walder.
Ten minutes after kicking off, it was the Cannons who had the opening chance of the game when Shaun Welford received a pass with his back to goal, after spotting Jack Delo in a bad position the experienced attacker shot from the edge of the area, but watched as it rolled wide of the target.
After a quiet opening fifteen minutes with minimal chances, Herne Bay took control of the game when a free kick from the right wing allowed Nathan Eastwood to put a header towards the bottom corner, forcing a wonderful save from Dan Eason.
Just three minutes after the goalkeeper was called into action again when he needed to tip a cross from Elliot Cutts over the bar before the resulting corner was cleared away.
Hythe worked their way back into the game and were close to the opening goal when Dan Stubbs’ cross from the right wing was cleared into the feet of James Morrish, whose effort from the edge of the box was cleared off the line into the back of the goalkeeper before the danger was hurried clear.
With just two minutes remaining in the first half the deadlock was broken, and it was the visitors who deservedly took the lead when a long ball forward was flicked on by James Turner, allowing Steven Ita to collect the loose ball before taking on Eason and brilliantly sliding a shot past the goalkeeper, giving the Bay a one goal lead going into half time.
The second half couldn’t have started worse for Hythe as, just two minutes into the half a confrontation occurred after Lawrence Harvey and Nathan Eastwood clashed whist challenging for a header, with Lawrence sent off as a result, Hythe were forced to play with a player deficit for most of the second half.
The bad fortune continued for the visitors under ten minutes later when an off the ball incident between Morrish and Eastwood resulted in the Hythe midfielder also seeing red, bringing them down to nine men as the night got better and better for their opponents.
Despite this, it was in the 75th minute when the first shot of the half occurred and it came from a weaving run from Steven Ita ended with the attacker leaving the ball for Danny Williams but the substitute fired over.
Much like the first half, Herne Bay went on to control the second half and just five minutes after Williams’ effort a cross from the right by Michael Turner was nodded in from close range by James Turner to undoubtedly determine the destination of the three points.
The visitors, with the game virtually over, continued to put pressure on as they began their search for a third goal but with time running out they could only create another two opportunities. Both of these came from Danny Williams being able to provide space between a makeshift Hythe defence for Mark Lovell, but both times the striker couldn’t convert his shot, meaning his side could travel back to the north east of the county with three points.
Despite an impressive showing from Herne Bay, it is now back to the drawing board for Hythe and with two consecutive defeats Tim Dixon will need to drive a winning mentality into his side who end the day in 20th place.
High flying Herne Bay, however, can look forward to attempting to continue their unbeaten run with began in their second pre-season game. They now sit in third after two games and will travel to Chipstead, who have drawn one game and lost one so far, on Saturday.
Hythe Town: Eason, Stubbs, Stevenson, S Fisher (Rivera), Lee, Harvey, Conlon (J Fisher), Morrish, Welford, Jordan, Wells (Brown)
Subs not used: Caney-Bryan, Hayward
Sent off: Harvey, Morrish
Herne Bay: Delo, M Turner, Sayer (H Brown), Johnson, Quinn, Eastwood (Williams), Sanders, Cutts (Phillip), Lovell, Turner, Ita
Subs not used: J Brown, Butler