On Saturday afternoon, Hythe were back at Reachfields to play Burgess Hill Town. In last season’s opening fixture, Hythe were thrashed 7-2 by the same opponents. This time, Hythe came out victorious after a late winner.
In the matchday programme, manager Steve Watt said that he was ‘disappointed with the overall performance last week’. Hythe made two changes from that defeat against South Park, with new signing Patrick Lee and Tom Walmsley coming in for Ryan Nicholls and Alex Brown. Last week’s goal scorer, Nathan Gordon, was left out of the squad due to injury, with Will Godmon also on the injury table, and Alex Flisher suspended.
The game got off to a perfect start for Hythe. Tom Wynter played the ball out wide to Kane Phillip, who made a run down the left-hand side of the pitch into the penalty area. He looked to be in a position to cross, but he caught out the defence, ghosting past them and taking a shot which sneaked in past Hillians keeper Josh James. Many of the early chances also fell to Hythe, with a ball into the box from Liam Smith headed away by the defence. Burgess Hill won a free-kick from Darren Oldaker on the edge of the box, with Alex Laing crossing into Scott Kirkwood, whose header went wide of the post. They won another free-kick a few minutes later, with the ball from impressive left-back Martyn Box headed across the face of goal by Nathan Cooper.
The Hillians eventually levelled the scores. On the half-hour mark, Alex Laing took a shot from outside the box which beat Patrick Lee. Hythe thought they had re-taken the lead a minute later, with a corner from Darren Oldaker headed into the back of the net by Tom Wynter. However, the linesman held up the offside flag. Another corner shortly after from Oldaker was headed on by Dean Beckwith, with Jordi Ndozid scooping the ball off the line for Burgess Hill for yet another corner. This time, the ball trickled near the goal and was cleared, and almost immediately after, Frannie Collin sent the ball into Kane Phillip, who’s downward header bounced off the crossbar and was cleared.
Just before the break, there was a small brawl, in which Alex Laing shoved into James Rogers, which lead Liam Smith to shove into Laing. The referee broke it up, awarding Smith a yellow card. For a moment, Laing thought he’d gotten away scot-free, before the linesman reported him to the referee, who went back over to Laing and gave him a booking too.
The second period started with an early flurry of chances for both teams. Hillian Scott Kirkwood hooked the ball across the face of the Hythe goal, before a shot from Kane Phillip was blocked. Then, on 49 minutes, Charlie Webster sent the ball into Phillip, who was unmarked, and had no trouble in heading the ball into an almost empty net.
The game went a little quiet for a while until the 66th minute, when Tom Walmsley went one-on-one with keeper Josh James, who grabbed the ball from his feet. A cross into the box for Kaka Dembele was tackled away shortly after. The Hillians created a number of chances after, with substitute Charlie Bennett heading past the post from an offside position, and Reece Williams-Bowers also missing from an offside position.
A free-kick just outside the box from Williams-Bowers was saved by Patrick Lee, before a Burgess Hill shot was deflected by Alex Brown, with the ball being cleared just after it crossed the line to give Burgess Hill a precious equaliser on 83 minutes.
Both teams created late chances, with a free-kick from Box headed away for a corner by Rogers. A ball from Alex Brown into Frannie Collin was saved by Josh James, before a lifted ball from Dean Beckwith into Alex Brown was tackled away by the defence. Finally, Hythe created one last chance. In the dying minutes of the game, Tom Walmsley put an excellent ball into the box for Frannie Collin, who headed it into the net to give Hythe their first win of the season.
Next weekend, Hythe are back at Reachfields at home to Chalfont St Peter in the FA Trophy with kick-off at 3pm.
Team: Patrick Lee, Liam Smith, Kaka Dembele, James Rogers, Dean Beackwith, Tom Wynter, Charlie Webster, Darren Oldaker (Alex Brown 75 mins), Tom Walmsley, Frannie Collin (Morgan Williamson 90 mins), Kane Phillip (Ross Ibbertson 60 mins)
Scorers: Hythe Town-Kane Phillip 7 & 49 mins, Frannie Collin 90 mins. Burgess Hill Town-Alex Laing 30 mins, Alex Brown (OG) 83 mins.
Attendance: 161