Steve Watt has called on his Hythe Town players to put behind them the terrible events on the pitch during Monday’s League game with Ashford United to progress in the FA Cup this weekend. 

During Monday’s game Ashford Adem Ramadan suffered a horrific double leg break, leading to fantastic medical support from both clubs and the game’s ultimate abandonment. 

“Monday wasn’t nice for anyone associated with both clubs to see,” the Hythe boss told us.

“No-one like to see players getting serious injuries and our thoughts are with Adem and we wish him a speedy recovery!”

“A lot of our players know Adem and have played with him and you’ve got to look after the players first and understandably their dressing room was clearly affected by it.”

“Frannie Collin was close to the incident and saw it straight away as the game continued and he was waving frantically for both physios to get on and we got Beth (Cooper – the Hythe physio) onto the pitch as quickly as we could as it was clearly a bad one!”

“It really was a nothing tackle with two players going in whole heartedly, both physios were brilliant; they were straight there, and both sets of players rallied round him and tried to make him as comfortable as we could until the paramedics arrived.”

“It was great credit to both clubs, both sets of players, staff in the way it was all conducted. The most important thing was to get Adem as comfortable as we could and get help there as quick as we could. The physios did everyone proud!” 

“It was great for this level of football!” 

Isthmian South-Central side Hamworth Villa are the visitors to Reachfields on Saturday and Watt told us, “They were in the Play Off Final last year so will be a good side.”

“This is what the FA Cup brings up, games where you get to play teams that you haven’t come across and you’re not sure about which is all about the beauty of the FA Cup!” 

“We’re looking forward to it and obviously want to progress as far as we can, If I remember rightly this is the round, we went out last year to Hayes & Yeading, so we’ll try to progress one step further.”

“You always look to get a home tie first and foremost which we’re happy with and we’ve just got to try and win the game, it’s as simple as that.”

“We’ll approach them with the utmost respect as we do to every opponent and try and get through. It’s very important to the Football Club but we know that they will be no pushovers and we’ll have to be at our best to progress.” 

“Every year there is a fairy tale story in the FA Cup, there’s always a Club that goes above and beyond and progresses.”

“It’s great to watch, as players, coaches and managers you watch these Clubs progress through the rounds, getting good ties and you’re genuinely pleased for the Clubs as they can be life changing and set Clubs up having a great Cup run.”

“The experience of it for players is incredible, I was part of it when I played for Maidstone and getting to the Second Round.”

“As a manager you want your players to have that experience that you had as a player, you want the Club, the players, the fans everyone to experience that.”

“It is a special competition because of that and the rewards it can bring and not just financial but memories that you can make!” 

The Hythe boss then told us that Sam Ituama will miss the tie after breaking his foot last Saturday at Merstham but will have Marcus Goldsmith and Jack Stevenson back after missing the last two games after being away.