Hythe Town 2-1 Folkestone Invicta - That was a big win for us today, says Hythe Town boss Clive Cook

Hythe Town 2 – 1 Folkestone Invicta
Location	Reachfields Stadium, off Fort Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 6JS
Kickoff	27/12/2015 15:00

HYTHE TOWN  2-1  FOLKESTONE INVICTA
Ryman League Division One South
Sunday 27^th December 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Reachfields Stadium

HYTHE TOWN manager Clive Cook says Folkestone Invicta could not live with his side during this one-sided Shepway showdown.

Folkestone Invicta arrived at Reachfields Stadium sitting proudly at the top of the Ryman League Division One South table on 63 points from 26 games, 12 points clear of second-placed Worthing.

Hythe Town were in fourteenth-place on 38 points from 26 games but battered their local rivals in front of a crowd of 1,527.

The Cannons created 15 goalscoring chances against a Folkestone Invicta side that failed to turn up in such a massive game.

Folkestone Invicta grabbed the lead after 23 minutes – totally against the run of play – when striker Ian Draycott tucked home a penalty to score his 21^st goal of the season.

Chance after chance after chance went begging for the home side but they finally equalised through Frankie Sawyer’s eighth goal for the club.

Folkestone Invicta were clearly missing ill central defender Liam Friend and right-back Josh Vincent was sent off for two yellow cards with 11 minutes remaining, before man-of-the-match Alfie May tucked home a late deserved winner for Hythe Town.

Victory over their local rivals was a perfect 57^th birthday present for Hythe Town boss Cook.

He said: “Elated! Absolutely elated!  I thought we dominated the whole complete game and really, I’ve got to be honest with you, it should’ve been more than that!

“I thought first half we had four or five clear cut chances, am I right? I think it was four or five and they only had a penalty, which was a soft penalty.

“We had a bigger shout for a penalty with a handball on the line but I’ll take that 2-1!

“We had a massive crowd, huge crowd, 1527. It was my first derby. It’s my birthday so it’s a massive birthday present to me. I’m absolutely over the moon. The performance the boys put in was superb!”

Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley was naturally disappointed in the manner that his players surrendered against his home-town club.

“I thought we were beaten by a side with a bit more guile and a bit more about them today,” admitted Cugley.

“I thought we weren’t at the races. I think we’ve got too many players who only want to play when they want to play. 

“Your Millers and Heard’s are good players but are they going to do it week in week out? That’s what they’ve got to learn to do. Yes, they’re still young, still young enough to learn and both will look back at this game and I think they’ll be really embarrassed by their performances.

“You look to the lad Alfie May, I thought he was different class. He was the difference. If we had Alfie May I think we would’ve won the game. I thought he was that good!”

Referee Leigh Crowhurst delayed kick-off by five minutes to ensure that the fans queuing outside the ground could get in.

It proved to be the right decision as The Cannons exploded into life straight from the first whistle.

Playing with a direct style of play that by-passed their three man midfield, left-back Josh Burchell clipped a long ball over the top of the Folkestone back four but debutant Jack Harris dragged his shot across goal towards May after only 166 seconds.

Burchell then swept a second long ball over the top to put May through on goal but his right-footed shot clipped the outside of the right-hand post with only 03:22 on the clock.

Cugley admitted: “We could’ve been 2-0 down.  We didn’t get going. Obviously you miss Frendy (Liam Friend) because he’s such a good player and he’s our captain and he’s our leader and he’s our best player in a lot of ways. People come in should do a bit better than that!

Both sides lined up with a 4-3-3 formation and while Folkestone Invicta tried to play a passing game on the deck, they couldn’t live with Hythe Town’s direct style of play.

Cook said: “We talked about it before the game. We said we wanted to give a high tempo.  We wanted to push high and the movement of Alfie (May) and Frankie (Sawyer) was absolutely immense.

“What I like about Jack (Harris), he’s young and he listens and we told him he had to do one thing and that was to play on the shoulder of Frankie Chappell, not to give anything away and he made the second goal.  He could’ve had a couple himself. He gives us a different option up top and that’s what we wanted.”

Reflecting on May’s shot that clipped the post, Cook replied: “That’s just the way it went today! That’ what you get with Alfie. He’s just like a Jack in a box. He’s so lively, he does it in training. He does it in the changing room. He just lives, breathes goals, what a free asset.”

When asked the question that Hythe Town were up for it, Cugley replied: “To be fair to them, they’ve got good players. They’ve got a good budget and good players. If they had this side at the beginning of the year they’d be right up there, no doubt about that!

“They’ve got some players that aren’t cheap. Let’s not live in a dream world! They’re paying good players and their manager has done a great job in getting some really good players here.

“They’ll be right at the top no doubt about it if they started the season with this team. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re scoring goals.

“The lad up front (Jack Harris) is a good player. I was after him a little while ago but he’s not really in my price range.”

Folkestone Invicta almost got in when Dave Cook’s back-pass was hit by central defender Craig Cloke, which ricochet into Scott Heard’s face and bounced harmlessly wide.

Hythe Town keeper Joe Mant’s big kick straight down the middle of the pitch was flicked on by Harris to put Sawyer through on goal but his left-footed drive sailed over the top of the left-hand post from 22-yards.

Folkestone Invicta grabbed the lead with their first shot on target with 22:04 on the clock.

Ashley Miller fed left-back Nat Blanks into the penalty area and he was tripped by Hythe Town’s right-back Phil Stevenson and referee Leigh Crowhurst pointed to the spot.

Draycott stepped up and drove his right-footed penalty into the right hand corner of the net to give Folkestone Invicta an undeserved lead.

Cugley said: “It’s just a penalty. The full-back dangled his leg out and it’s a definite penalty and Dracs took that well.

“We haven’t conceded a goal for ages so I still think if we had done what we should’ve done, we wouldn’t have conceded late on either.”

Cook added: “It was Steveo who gave it away. Ryan Johnson cut him short, penalty! That’s four games on the trot where we’ve had a penalty against us but it’s one of them.”

Folkestone Invicta almost doubled their lead with the next goalscoring chance in the 34^th minute.

Phil Starkey started the move in midfield to feed Miller, who played Draycott in behind the Hythe defence but Mant rushed off his line to make a vital save with his legs.

Cugley said: “We played a little bit of football just before half-time.  The goalie’s made a really good save at the time was an important save but as the game went on second half I thought they were physically too strong and we the will to win was a lot better than some of my lads.”

But that was the best it got for the league leaders as Hythe Town went on to dominate the rest of the game.

May stroked a right-footed shot on the turn from the left hand side which forced Tim Roberts to dive to his left to parry and the keeper grabbed hold of the loose ball before Sawyer could pounce.

May then skipped past the advancing Roberts and maintained his composure before cutting inside and hitting a right-footed drive which appeared to be caught on the line by a kneeling Vincent.  The referee continued when the defender should have been sent-off in the 37^th minute.

Cook said: “That was a blatant handball on the line and he didn’t give it!

“It hit the hand, that’s what he said to me at half-time. I said it’s handball, end of story. He’s on the line. He should’ve given it!”

Folkestone Invicta produced a slick one-touch move which involved Rook, Heard and Draycott, which Rook cracked a first time drive sailing over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Craig Cloke, who was the glue that held together Hythe Town’s defence, went close to scoring his first goal of the season with the last chance of the first half.

May swept in a free-kick from the left towards the far post which was punched away by Roberts, high to his left.  Cloke’s first powerful drive was blocked and his second stung the keeper’s fingers at his near post.

“The good thing is we made the chances and that’s what we said at half-time,” added Cook.

“We’ve had bundles of chances first half. They didn’t have a chance. The penalty we gave, they didn’t really have a chance. 

“That’s what I said to them. If we can make that amount of chances in the first half, just stick to the plan as we said and push it high, keep the momentum going, stretch them and it will come – and it did!”

Despite all of Hythe Town’s pressure and chances, Folkestone Invicta, somehow, went into the break still in the lead.

Cook said: “Same thing – just do the same thing, keep the tempo up, believe in yourselves, you make that number of chances in a football match in the first half, if you win that many in the second half you will win the football game and that’s what we’ve done.”

Cugley added: “I just felt we could improve and keep trying to play and keep disciplined and I don’t think we did.

“You play to your strengths, they played to ours but we didn’t carry on playing football did we? That showed in the second half.”

It didn’t take too long for Hythe Town to create their first chance of the second half.

Harris fed May down the left who cut across the penalty area before laying the ball out to supporting right-back Stevenson, who whipped in a low centre towards the near post which was poked wide by May.

Mant then launched another big kick straight down the middle, which was knocked down by Harris and fell invitingly for Sawyer, whose left-footed angled drive was beaten away by the busy Folkestone keeper at his near post.

Hythe Town kept the tempo and pressure high and they were to be denied by Roberts’ fine save in the 55^th minute.

Harris put May through on goal straight down the middle but Roberts advanced and used his left arm to make a vital block.

“He gets in the positions, that’s the thing,” said Cook.

“He gets into the positions for a small lad, that’s the big thing for me, he gets into the positions.

“The reason we signed him is because this club lacked quality up the top and now between the two of them (May and Sawyer) they have scored 18 goals.”

Darren Marsden ran into space and slipped the ball through to Sawyer down the left, the striker cut onto his right-foot to drill his shot just past the foot of the near post.

Another kick by Mant was hooked on by Harris to Sawyer and his deflected shot was comfortably saved by Roberts.

The breakthrough finally arrived when Hythe Town deservedly equalised with 20:43 on the clock.

Folkestone Invicta clearly missed Friend as Hythe’s front three gave Frankie Chappell and stand-in Matt Newman a nightmare for the whole game.

May slipped the ball through to Sawyer, who cut inside and drilled his right-footed shot underneath Roberts to find the bottom left-hand corner.

“It’s what Frank does, that’s what Frank gives you. He gives you the movement and he scores goals,” said Cook.

“I can’t speak more highly of those two because I think the difference in the side today was probably our movement all-round the park and I do think our movement was far superior.”

Cugley simply replied: “Good worked goal. You can’t moan about that. I’ve got no complaints!”

Folkestone Invicta’s only second half chance arrived three minutes later.

Folkestone Invicta copied Hythe Town with a long-ball out of defence, this time from Blanks, which was met by Rook’s towering header, which sailed across goal and past the far post.

Cugley admitted: “Never really looked like it was going in, did it? By that stage with the sending off you’re backs are against the wall and you’re hoping to get a draw then and I thought we might hang on but we didn’t.”

Cook was full of praise for his back four to limiting Folkestone Invicta to that one second half opening.

“I’ll absolutely live by that all day long. If we can keep it to that then I’m happy with that,” said the Hythe boss.

“The defence was marshalled brilliantly by Craig Cloke and Nick Reeves. The whole back four was blinding, absolutely first class. The two midfielders holders were brilliant. They ran their buts off on the pitch, which was quite heavy, which I thought was quite impressive really considering the amount of rain that we’ve had and the movement of the three – Jack who runs his socks off. We’re very, very happy, very happy.”

Cloke launched a trademark long throw towards the near post, which was flicked on by Dave Cook and bounced off Harris’ head, Roberts grabbing hold of the ball.

The home faithful felt their side had scored a deserved winner when Sawyer fed May, who cut onto his right foot and it appeared that he placed his right-footed shot across Roberts into the bottom far corner – but the ball flashed agonisingly past the foot of the far post.

Cook added: “Again, keep going, that’s what I say, keep the chances flowing.

“If we kept the tempo as high as we did in the first half we would get something out of the game and I think we did do that. We did keep the tempo high and I just don’t think they could handle it.”

Folkestone Invicta were reduced to ten-men with 11 minutes left when Vincent picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Birchall down the right.

Cugley said: “It’s fair enough! The first one, both were definitely yellow. We did say to him don’t dive in but he gave the opportunity for Hythe to influence the ref a bit and get him sent off, which is what goes on nowadays.”

Cook added: “Unlucky but it was a booking, it was a yellow card so obviously with the first one was a bit tame, I’ve got to be honest.

“When you’re on a yellow card I thought the first one was a pretty poor decision for him to get a booking but the second one wasn’t. When you’re experienced as someone like Josh Vincent, to manage that but that’s what happens in football sometimes. Soft pitch, sliding in, take the other player as well, you’re always going to get a booking.”

 Harris held the ball up well all day and he laid the ball inside to central midfielder Ryan Johnson, who powered his first time right-footed drive straight down Roberts’ throat.

But Hythe Town notched the victory that their pressure deserved as May capped of an impressive days work with 39:35 on the clock.

Despite some misses during open-play, the winning goal came from a set-piece from midfield.

Nick Reeves clipped the ball from middle down the right channel to an unmarked Harris, who had found space in behind Blanks and Newman. 

The former Hastings United striker was given time and space to centre towards an unmarked May, who swept his shot into the bottom far corner from eight-yards.

Cugley said: “You’ve got to be there so give him some credit and he deserved to get the winner to be fair to him.

“I think he caused us too many problems but I feel we didn’t get tight in other areas so they could get the ball to him quite easily.”

“I think he had better chances and missed than that one! Fantastic birthday,” hailed Cook.

The Hythe boss added: “On another given day that could’ve been an embarrassing scoreline being honest with you. It could’ve been embarrassing but they’re a very good side still and we had to play very well to beat a good side.

“It’s a massive achievement by the squad, massive achievement.

“This brings us to a different level, I think we’ve just said a statement up there today, I do, it’s not over yet!”

Hythe Town have now closed the gap between them and the play-offs to seven points and his side have made their fans so proud tonight.

Cook said: “It’s got to be one of the records. It was always going to be a big crowd, nothing else on. Fair play to the board for choosing that game on a Sunday and it’s good that we paid them back with the result.  I’m very happy. They must be happy to beat our local rivals.

“That’s a big win for us today. It claws it back in again so I’m pleased. We’ve just got to believe in ourselves. If we believe in ourselves totally we’ll be fine.

“Play-offs? Talk to you in three or four games time. I’ll let you know!”

Worthing’s 5-0 home win over Peacehaven & Telscombe has cut Invicta’s lead at the top to nine points.

Cugley said: “Not that many (points), we’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve still got to go to Worthing, we’ve got to play Herne Bay. If we perform like that it will be a long old slog to it. It won’t be that easy.

“The title is a long way off yet. People make me laugh saying it’s all over. It’s no way near over! Hastings won’t be far away. Herne Bay, they won’t be too far away. I’m pleased that we’ve got this gap but we’ve got to perform better.

“I think it’s difficult for the players because we’ve always been chasing before so there hasn’t been any pressure on players to go and perform.  They can get away with sometimes having days off.

“When you’re top of the league you’re there to be knocked off literally. When I played I loved that sort of situation to show what you can do but today we have players that melted a bit.”

Hythe Town: Joe Mant, Phil Stevenson, Josh Burchell, Ryan Johnson, Craig Cloke, Nick Reeves, Dave Cook, Jack Harris, Frankie Sawyer (Craig Thompson 90), Alfie May, Darren Marsden (Ben Wilson 85).
Subs: Louis Sprosen, Connor Hood, William Thomas

Goals: Frankie Sawyer 66, Alfie May 85

Booked: Darren Marsden 69

Folkestone Invicta: Tim Roberts, Josh Vincent, Nat Blanks, Matt Newman, Frankie Chappell, Micheal Everitt, Phil Starkey, Scott Heard, Ian Draycott, Carl Rook (Ronnie Dolan 75), Ashley Miller (Harry Smith 82).
Subs: Jordan Wright, Patrick Nzuzi, Jon Sparks

Goal: Ian Draycott 23 (penalty)

Booked: Josh Vincent 20, Carl Rook 51

Sent Off: Josh Vincent 79

Attendance: 1,527
Referee: Mr Leigh Crowhurst (Uckfield, East Sussex)
Assistants: Mr Jack Fagg (Canterbury) & Mr Jamie MacLeod (Sheffield)