Hythe Town came down to earth with a bump after their midweek demolition of Guernsey whilst Herne Bay strode to their fourth consecutive league victory, a club record in the Ryman Isthmian League.
“It was disappointing that we didn’t carry on our performance from Tuesday night”, said Hythe boss Tim Dixon, “inconsistency will make you finish in the bottom half of the table and that’s what we were today.”
“History? Is it really? I didn’t know that”, said Bay manager Sam Denly, “listen! We were excellent today, it really should have been 2-0 (not 2-1). We are where we are on merit”.
The opening exchanges were fast and furious on a slippery soft Reachfields surface that cut at the first opportunity. It was Herne Bay who made the first incision of note though when Joe Nelder’s free kick in the 13th minute curled sufficiently in the air to confuse Roddy Hayward in the Hythe goal. Consequently, he spilled the ball and Golden Boot chasing Stuart King pounced as all top strikers do to force the ball home.
Nine minutes later the visitors really ought to have put the game to bed early. Awarded a penalty when Dan Parkinson was brought down in the left quadrant of the 18 yard box, Stuart King strode forward for what ought to have been a formality. Whoever, King blotted his copybook for the afternoon by smashing the ball a good yard over Hayward’s cross bar.
Then, on the half hour mark, Ashley Miller almost mad the Bay pay when he broke down the left, tracked goalward and forced a save of some excellence out of Jack Delo between the visitor’s sticks. Miller’s fiercely driven shot was acrobatically pushed away for a corner.
The pace of the game hardly let up after the break with both teams exchanging attacking duties although, territorially, Herne Bay spent more time in the Town half than vice versa.
On 64 minutes Stuart King put the matter beyond reasonable doubt when he slammed home Walder’s delicate chip from an angle that would probably keep mathematicians busy for some considerable time working out the chances of success and the contact parameters required to make the net bulge from a first time shot with a marginal target to aim at.
As one visiting supporter commented after the game, “two contenders for goal of the season in two consecutive matches. Stuart King? More like King Stuart!” That is as maybe, although King has now netted 22 times in all competitions this term.
Hythe still huffed and puffed though. Sam Conlon, on as a late substitute, pulled a goal back when he rifled home in stoppage time which, at once, lifted hopes and set nerves a-jangling dependent on which end of the stadium one might be viewing from.
“A couple of positives”, said Dixon, “I put a couple of youngsters on at the end including Sam Conlon who has just come a back after a few months out and he scored but we didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game.”
Denly was delighted and buoyant as one might expect from a manager that has seen his side growing together as a team. “I said a while ago that I thought we were getting there as a team,” said Denly, “we’ve gone sixth in the league now but this year is about consolidation again, it’s a very tight league this year and we are doing well. I’m not going to get carried away, we have some tough games coming up.”
Hythe Town: Roddy Hayward, Jack Sullivan (Sam Conlon 83), Lewis Mingle (Ryan Philpott 73), Jamie Collado, Phil Stevenson, Laurence Harvey, John Walker, Dave Pilcher, Craig Thompson, Ashley Miller (Henry Pilcher 90), Josh Burchell.
Subs Not Used: Harry Carr.
Cautions: Josh Burchell Sent Off: None
Herne Bay: Jack Delo , Michael Turner, Gary Sayer, Dan Johnson, Liam Quinn, Dan Parkinson (Ben Brown 77), Danny Walder, Joe Nelder, Danny Williams, Stuart King (Harry Brown 90), Sam Hasler (Nathan Eastwood 86).
Subs Not Used: Steven Ita, James Brown.
Cautions: Sam Hasler Sent Off: None
Man of the Match: Stuart King (Herne Bay)
Referee: Dele Sotimirin Assistants: Tom Fell, Kennedy Kikulwe.
Hythe Town (0) 1
Conlon 90
Herne Bay (1) 2
King 13, 64
at Reachfields
Attendance: 210
(photo credit: Steve Barton – Stuart King pounces for his first goal.)