Several of our sides are facing a busy end to 2023 and Hythe Town are no exception with ten games still scheduled between now and January 1st – a fact that baffles boss Steve Watt at a time when he should be celebrating his side’s record breaking run in the FA Trophy.
“I’m sorry but I have no sympathy for the League,” a frustrated Watt told us as his side prepare to face Phoenix Sports this weekend.
“I don’t think the League helps clubs out to be honest as you only get a six week period to rearrange any postponed games and with our Trophy run and other team’s Cup runs… we have a ridiculous schedule ahead of us and I don’t understand things as at the start of the season we had next to no midweek games and not one scheduled after Christmas!”
On the pitch, Hythe continued their record-breaking run in the Isuzu FA Trophy last weekend when they knocked out Jay Saunders’ Tonbridge Angels at Reachfields and after seeing his side beat the National League South side on penalties, Watt told us, “It was a great day for the Club! I have always wanted to create firsts for whatever Club I have managed – we did it last year by getting to the Play Off Final and we have managed now to do it in the Trophy by going further than the Club ever has before.”
“I cannot speak highly enough of the players and the effort they gave in the performance they put in last Saturday.”
“Jay’s got a great team down there as they are only a couple of points off the Play Offs, so to come out of the game with a clean sheet and to progress was a great day!”
“Really good friends with Jay from our days at Maidstone – we had a great catch up afterwards and it is always good to play and put yourself up against people you consider to be the best at what they do, and Jay certainly is that with the success he’s had over the years.”
“We’ve now got Whitehawk in the next round who beat us in the Play Off Final last year and deservedly so – they were the better side on the night – but this draw will give us another crack at them!”
On Wednesday, Watt’s side were Ramsgate’s tenth victim in a row as the Rams won 3-1 at Southwood – a performance that Watt called, “a difficult night with a couple of injuries and a couple more missing! And off the back of Saturdays win, it was not the easier of games to go into midweek.”
The manager went on, “the players gave a good account of themselves and on another night, I feel we would have got something out of the game.”
“I thought Ramsgate deserved to win but it was more disappointing for me the two goals that won them the game were sloppy goals from our point of view and mistakes, winning it with two tap-ins in the six-yard box from which we must do better from!”
Watt takes his side to face a Phoenix Sports side this year who themselves shipped nine at Southwood seven days ago!
“They are a good side with some good players, it’s as simple as that and you never like playing a team who have come off a beating like that,” the Hythe boss confessed.
“They are going to have a point to prove, the players will have a point to prove and it is going to be a very tricky game for us on Saturday. We are not a hundred percent so we will go there and patch things up a little bit and try to win the game, as we’ve games in hand on teams above us having only played nine and if we can win those games, it will put us in a great position.”