It was a point-a-piece on Saturday afternoon at Reachfields, as Hythe drew 1-1 with Three Bridges. Steve Watt made just one change from the 4-0 defeat against Horndean, as Kane Phillip was replaced by Kai Garande.

The first chance of the match went Hythe’s way in the twelfth minute, as a long throw-in from the right-hand side by Jack Steventon was headed backwards by ex-Hythe striker Noel Leighton, which keeper Finlay Westen had to jump to catch. However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock on 22 minutes, when Nabeel Ghannam darted past the Hythe defence and placed a shot into the corner of the net past Jack West-Astuti.

Hythe had an opportunity to level the scores on the half-hour mark, as Frannie Collin whipped a curling shot from outside the box just past the keeper’s right-hand post. Collin almost turned into the provider ten minutes later, as his free kick was headed on by Josh Wisson, and was narrowly tipped over by Finlay Westen. Hythe had their closest chance of the half in stoppage time, when Jake Embery’s shot at goal was saved, and the rebound went to Wisson once again, who managed to deflect the ball off the crossbar before it was dealt with by the Three Bridges backline.

The second half began evenly – Hythe did have a slight edge, but their build-up play was unfortunately cancelled out in the final third.

On 77 minutes, a melee in the Three Bridges penalty area almost resulted in a goal, but in 83 minutes, Jack West-Astuti had to dive to catch a bullet header by Billy Irving from a Three Bridges corner.

Fortunately for Hythe, they were able to draw level with just three minutes remaining of normal time, when Lex Allan’s shot resulted in a handball by an opposition defender.

Frannie Collin stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the keeper’s left to make it 1-1. Despite this, it was the visitors who came closest to scoring the winner – in stoppage time, Noel Leighton hit a shot which was narrowly caught between the legs of Jack West-Astuti to secure a point for Hythe.

Overall, the result was a fair one, and Hythe now face the prospect of three games in the space of five days, starting with a trip to East Grinstead Town on Tuesday evening, before they face Beckenham Town at Reachfields on Thursday, with the match kicking off at 7:45pm.

Team: Jack West-Astuti, Liam Smith, Kai Garande (Kane Phillip 81 mins), Jack Steventon, Lex Allan, Josh Wisson, Aaron Barnes, Bradley Schafer, Johan Caney-Bryan, Frannie Collin, Jake Embery (Josh Stirman 90 mins).  Subs Unused: Jarred Trespaderne, Sam Flisher, Oscar Webb,

Scorers: Hythe Town – Frannie Collin 87 mins (pen). Three Bridges – Nabeel Ghannan 22 mins.

Attendance: 178