On Saturday, Hythe made their way to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Trophy, winning 3-0 against Chalfont St Peter.
Hythe made two changes from their last match. Patrick Lee was unavailable to play, so Nathan Harvey joined on loan from Charlton’s under-23 side. New signing Nicki Dembele also started, in place of the injured Kane Phillip.
Hythe made a perfect start to the match. In the eighth minute, a corner from Darren Oldaker was knocked in by Frannie Collin to give the Cannons an early lead.
The Cannons dominated many of the early chances, with another Oldaker corner being hit into the side netting by Tom Wynter on the half-hour mark. A few minutes after, Hythe’s new stopper Nathan Harvey showed his quality when Sydney Ibie went through on goal on the counterattack. Harvey produced an excellent double-save from Ibie’s shots.
Not long after, Ibie made a very nasty challenge on Kaka Dembele, which earned him a booking. On the stroke of half-time, a shot from Nicki Dembele was blocked, and went straight through to Frannie Collin, who finished into the top corner to put Hythe 2-0 up.
Only a minute into the second half, there was an eight-minute stoppage when Adam Roberts was booked for a clash with Dean Beckwith.
The nosebleed got very bad, so in the end he had to be substituted. When the game resumed, Tom Wynter gave away a free kick, which was taken by Blake D’arcy and blocked and cleared by the Hythe defence.
The hosts had another chance after 66 minutes, with a ball in from Charlie Webster headed away for a corner, which went in towards Tom Wynter, whose shot was blocked, with Wynter firing the rebound over the bar.
On 77 minutes, Hythe got their third, when the Chalfont defence switched off following a break in play, allowing Frannie Collin to tap the ball in for his hat-trick.
Hythe’s next game is back at Reachfields next Saturday (3rd October), against Phoenix Sports. Kick-off is at 3PM.
Team: Nathan Harvey, Liam Smith, Kaka Dembele, James Rogers, Dean Beckwith (Ross Ibbertson 47 mins), Tom Wynter, Charlie Webster, Darren Oldaker (Morgan Williamson 90 mins), Tom Walmsley (Alex Brown 45 mins), Frannie Collin, Nicki Dembele.
Scorers: Frannie Collin 8, 45 & 77 mins.