Hythe Town won this Kent derby with a disputed penalty after Jordan Perrin was adjudged to have brought down Stephen Okoh in the penalty area.

There was plenty of familiarity between the teams as Sid Sollis and Johan Caney-Bryan have both  played for Hythe, whilst their assistant manager is ex Brickies assistant Nathan Elder.

Hythe’s Stephen Okoh and Jamie Coyle have also played for Sittingbourne, Coyle having had a stint as assistant manager.

Sittingbourne made two changes from the Three Bridges starting line-up, Jack Smith and Chris Barnard  made way for Gillingham loanee Jimmy Witt, and Tommie Fagg.

Ben Fitchett and Sid Sollis were included on the bench, both joining the game in the second half along with young Sam Stace. Hythe were missing Sam Blackman who had been recalled from his loan by Dartford.

The game itself was very closely matched with the guile of the experienced Frannie Collin, Jamie Coyle and Alex Flisher, more than matched by the Brickies youngsters.

Sittingbourne almost had a dream start when Kane Phillip raced down the right from the kick off and sent in a rasping shot that curled past the far post. Enoch Adjei then had the ball in the Cannons net on seven minutes but the “goal” was disallowed.

The experienced Frannie Collin had a weak header go wide on 36 minutes and at the other end Witt had a great shot that sailed just past the right hand post.

With 4 minutes of the first half to go Phillip found himself in good space, but he seemed to think that he was off-side and slowed before sprinting off again and he let fly with a shot but Cannons keeper Will Godmon turned the ball round a post.

The best chance of the half went to the Brickies when good play by Witt ended in a pass to Adjei at the far post who fired the ball narrowly wide. The feat was repeated at the other end by Okoh who saw his shot flash across the goal.

Right on half time Hythe won a free kick. The ball was delivered to the far post where Coyle was lurking and he headed towards goal only for the ball to be kicked cleared off the Brickies goal line.

The second half was nine minutes old when the penalty, was given and Collins gave Perrin no chance in the Brickies goal.

Another Hythe effort was hacked off the Brickies goal line, this time by Cory Walters – Wright as Hythe took the initiative, and then Collins fired an effort just over from 30 yards.

Sittingbourne regrouped and started to press, Caney-Bryan back headed the ball to Sollis but the resulting shot went wide.

However was to be as good as the Brickies could muster as the Cannons experience helped them manage the last few minutes of the game to claim all three points.

Hythe Town: Will Godmon, Ross Ibbertson, Nathan Gordon (Yellow), James Rogers, Jamie Coyle, Tom Wynter, Stephen Okoh (Eli Beniot 81 mins), Charlie Webster (Jarred Trespaderne 46 mins), Tom Walmsley, Frannie Collin (Yellow), Alex Flisher.

Subs not used: Jacob Brown, Josh Eka, Ryan Nicholls.

Sittingbourne: Jordan Perrin, Chris Webber (Sam Stace 81 mins), Jason Fregene, Cameron Brodie, Lex Allan, Cory Walter-Wright, Jimmy Witt, Tommie Fagg (Yellow) (Ben Fitchett 56 mins), Johan Caney-Bryan, Kane Phillip (Sid Sollis 59 mins), Enoch Adjei.

Subs not used: Ikechi Eze, Josh Oliver.

Referee: Ian Fissenden

Attendance: 218