Hythe Town 4-0 Eastbourne Town - Porter: We're scoring goals for fun

Saturday 29th August 2009

HYTHE TOWN 4-0 EASTBOURNE TOWN
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Preliminary Round
Saturday 29th August 2009
Stephen McCartney reports from Reachfields Stadium

ROOKIE Hythe Town manager Scott Porter insists his side answered their critics as they played Eastbourne Town off the park in one of the day’s FA Cup Preliminary Round shocks.

LONG LIVE THE KING: Striker Pat Kingwell scored a 24 minute hat-trick as Hythe Town romped to a convincing 4-0 win over Eastbourne Town in today's FA Cup Preliminary Round upset at Reachfields Stadium today.
Photograph courtesy of Tony Day - www.kentleague.com

Eastbourne Town, who play one division higher than Hythe in Ryman League Division One South didn’t even mention this fixture on their official club website and turned up at Reachfields Stadium seventy minutes before kick-off, probably expecting an easy ride.

But Porter’s immense charges had other ideas, and immediately put their winless opponents on the back-foot as Hythe deserved their first half lead through Kieran Byrne’s 17th minute strike as the former Folkestone Invicta striker netted his SEVENTH goal in only four games.

Things got even better for unbeaten Hythe as fellow striker Pat Kingwell, who attracted the attention of higher league clubs Ramsgate (Ryman Premier) and Welling United (Blue Square South) before penning a one-year contract with his present club, netted a superb 24 minute second half hat-trick to embarrass a shockingly poor Eastbourne Town side, who only came to life in the final ten minutes.

Porter was without midfield playmaker Lee Winfield (one match) and defender Sam Marsh (two) through suspension, so the vastly experienced Roy Guiver was handed his first start to the season and slotted in well beside Gavin Ransley at the heart of a stubborn Hythe defence.

Hythe were also without Aiden Pursglove (knee), but their strike problems didn’t materialise as Byrne and Kingwell stole the show.

Hythe stamped their authority in a rather one-sided game as early as 30 seconds, when left-back John Walker joined an attack and had time to pick out central midfielder Dave Cook, who sent a glancing header towards goal, which was tipped over by Eastbourne goalkeeper Russell Tanner.

And Guiver showed his talents as a target man in the eighth minute when he got on the end of a Gary Clarke free-kick to loop a header into Tanner’s grateful arms, who saved comfortably from underneath his own crossbar.

Hythe deservedly broke the deadlock in the 17th minute as Byrne took advantage of some sloppy defending from Eastbourne left-back Lloyd Anthony.

Byrne, who was given a chance at Eastbourne’s level by neighbouring Folkestone Invicta manager Neil Cugley last season, snatched the ball off Anthony to burst a few yards into the penalty area and his finish was one of a higher league striker, smashing a low right-footed drive to beat Tanner at his near post after cutting inside.

Nine minutes later and patient build up play down the right saw skipper Tom Adlington link up well with Clarke to deliver a left-footed cross, which was met by Cook’s header, which bounced agonisingly past the foot of the far post.

Yet another Hythe chance arrived when Byrne’s free-kick from the right smacked against Cook’s back inside the six-yard box and the ball found it’s way back to Barry Beaney, who was playing in the diamond, and his 35-yard drive brought a comfortable save from the busy Tanner.

Hythe’s long-ball tactics of last season, were non-existent today and in the 31st minute Beanery released Kingwell and the striker really should have doubled Hythe’s lead as, after cutting inside, his right-footed drive was straight into Tanner’s grateful arms.

Eastbourne did have a woeful attempt on goal inside first-half injury time when Jack Dixon’s right-footed drive sailed high over Kieron Mann’s crossbar following Terry Paine’s corner from the right.

But despite their dominance, Hythe had to wait until the 51st minute before Kingwell took centre stage.

Walker swept the ball forward from his left-back position and the ball was flicked on by supporting midfielder Adam Hooper into Kingwell’s path.

The striker still had a lot of work to do, but close control saw him dance through three Eastbourne defenders before firing the ball into the bottom near corner.

Confident Byrne tried his luck with an audacious free-kick out on the right from 35-yards, and having seen Tanner step away from his line, the ball looped onto the roof of the net.

Hythe stormed into a deserved 3-0 lead on the hour mark, when Byrne released Kingwell who slammed a stunning low drive past stunned Tanner.

After chipping the ball over the bar, Kingwell sealed his hat-trick with fourteen minutes remaining when he was released straight down the middle of a shell-shocked Eastbourne defence by Hooper and slotted a bouncing ball past Tanner to find the bottom left-hand corner.

A sign of a decent keeper is to stay alert at all times and Mann kept his second clean sheet of the season as Eastbourne finally called him into action twice in the final eight minutes.

The keeper beat out a fierce hooked drive from Mark Goodwin at his near post and the keeper dived low to his right to prevent Dixon’s 25-yard free-kick taking the gloss of an excellent performance from a side that are gunning for promotion out of the Kent League at the end of this season.

“That’s what we’ve been working on all through the summer, to play football” a delighted Porter told www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“Everyone doubts us to say we’re a long-ball team and you’ve seen today that we’re not!

“The lads have got to take a lot of credit for it because that’s what we’ve been working on in training. We want to play football and its been a really good win.,

“It was a game I thought we could win from the start. I put it into the boys at the start that this was a game to put a statement on what we are.

“We’ve got to win games like this and the boys done well. I couldn’t fault them.”

What pleased Porter - who was assistant manager under Paul Fisk last season - was that his side kept the ball on the deck and Eastbourne Town had no answer to their slick passing.

“They didn’t have a chance to have a foothold on the game because we went out there from the first minute and that’s what we try and do,” said Porter.

“Another clean sheet and we’re scoring goals for fun at the moment.”

Praising hat-trick hero Kingwell, who has now scored four goals this season, Porter added, “A great hat-trick from Pat. He’s worked his socks off and he deserves everything that he gets because he’s a great player.”

Porter, meanwhile, isn’t going to get carried away as wins over Whitehawk and this convincing demolition of Eastbourne Town, has banked his club £2,250 in prize money.

If Faversham Town pull off a shock and win Tuesday night’s home replay against Ryman One South side Merstham, then Justin Luchford’s side will travel to Reachfields Stadium in the first qualifying round (which is worth £3,000 in prize money) on 12th September.

“It’s nice to get some money in for the club,” said Porter. “It all helps and if we win the next one, you never know who will be around the corner in the next one.

“We’re not going to get carried away because we’ve beaten an Eastbourne side who weren’t much cop, but you say they’re not much cop, you can’t fault anything that we’ve done.

“We’ve played some good football at times and maybe could’ve been five or six.

“We had criticism all last year and people haven’t seen us, how we play this season. I changed the formation today because Lee Winfield was out and I brought Barry Beaney in and we played a diamond.

“We wouldn’t have done that last year but we can do that this year because we play football. People can move around and get about the pitch and that’s what we’ve got.

“That’s what I want, us to carry on what we’re doing, playing football.”

Skipper Tom Adlington, who was solid at right-back alongside his team-mates, admitted he knew Eastbourne Town would go tumbling out of the FA Cup at their first hurdle.

“We were confident when we went into it,” said the former Ashford Town defender, when also speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“We knew we would get a result, but we didn’t expect four-nil!

“All the lads dug in and done really well again and we surprised them!”

The 34-year-old defender, like Porter, was quick to praise Kingwell, saying, “He’s a good player. He can play up front, he can play at the back. For a big man he’s got good feet and he showed that today, scored some great goals, good movement in the box and got his rewards for it.”

Hythe Town: Kieron Mann, Tom Adlington (Joe Bullard 84), John Walker, Roy Guiver, Gavin Ransley, Gary Clarke, Dave Cook, Adam Hooper, Kieran Byrne (Martin Chandler 88), Pat Kingwell (Scott Punton 79), Barry Beaney.

Subs: Mark Bond, Tony Allen.

Goals: Kieran Byrne 17, Pat Kingwell 52, 60, 76

Booked: Pat Kingwell 67, Tom Adlington 68

Eastbourne Town: Russell Tanner, Simon Catt (Ross Markham 42), Lloyd Anthony, Ben Putland, Paul Richardson (Sam Scaaf 64), Peter Feathersone, Jack Dixon, Adam Davidson, Liam Baitup, Jamie Salvidge, Terry Paine (Mark Goodwin 52).

Sub: Matt Sellick.

Attendance: 152

Referee: Mr Robert Smith (Croydon, Surrey)

Assistants: Mr Peter Zuffa (Lewisham) & Mr Dean Olugunna (Wallington, Surrey)