Lordswood 0-3 Hythe Town - People are raising their games against us, says Hythe boss Scott Porter

Afterwards when he spoke to www.kentishfootball.co.uk he was a very frustrated man as he explained, “Its disappointing again that we dominated for a spell again and we didn’t kill the game.  Then again we can’t account for some poor defending. 

“Yet again a team hasn’t come here and beaten us – we’ve beaten ourselves; maybe that’s inexperience or maybe the players have to have a good look at themselves but that’s something that we will be changing in the next couple of weeks.”
 
“I know the boys are frustrated that we’re not doing things in the final third but then they’ve got to be professional enough to say that we stay nil-nil or we’re going to defend and we’ll stay concentrating at all times!  But unfortunately we’re not doing that as a team so it’s very, very frustrating.”
 
Lillis also admitted, “I’ve got to put it into perspective and we’re a club that pays no money; we’re not a club that can go out and get players that warrant a figure to play.  But the team that I always put out onto the field is a team that can still win a game of football and they’ve got to believe that themselves.”
 
Hythe boss Porter on the other hand as naturally enough over the moon with his sides weekend. 

He told www.kentishfoootball.co.uk, “It was a tricky weekend for us – we had a great performance in the Cup at Deal on Saturday and after riding some pressure here today I thought our quality came through in the end. 

“We always feel that teams will tire against us, and when they came forward, we could hit them on the break and the quality that we’ve got going forward showed in the end.” 
 
Looking at the league in general, Porter went on, “I think that there’ll be four or five going for the title this year, and that can only be good for the League, and hopefully we can be one of those four or five but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. 

“We’ve had a tricky start but we want the games to come thick and fast.  But they’re all going to be tough as people are raising their game against us as they’re saying that we’re going to be one of the favourites and that suits me as we’re going to have to be at our best every game we play.”
 
There was no doubt that the home side went into the game with renewed confidence after the performance and result from the weekend, but this was clearly going to be another hard game against one of the favourites for the League.
 
The game was only five minutes old when Dominic Elmes and Steven Elliott combined putting Elliott in on goal but his first touch forced him wide and once in the area his shot beat the keeper but was cleared of the line.
 
The game ebbed and flowed with Hythe at times showing why they are fancied for the title but credit to Lordswood they kept battling but in the 34th minute disaster struck when Matt Byott’s goal kick only just reached halfway and it was headed on for Cass to latch onto and he went into the area before shooting past the young keeper.

It could have been worse for the home side as they rode their luck in the latter stages of the half. 

On 34 minutes a long ball from Greg Smith found Craig Thompson and the burly striker muscled his way through only to be denied by an excellent save from Byott at the foot of his left post, and the in the 40th minute a corner to the back post was met by Cass whose header was cleared of the line by Sam Morrison. 
 
Thompson though was not to be denied and in the 59th minute the ball played up to Hythe’s number nine on the edge of the area and he controlled, turned and fired an unstoppable shot over Byott and into the top left hand corner.
 
The home side staged a rare raid in the 63rd minute when a free kick from 20 yards out saw Matt McHugh pass sideways to Adam Hooper whose shot through a crowded box was well held by keeper Kieron Mann.
 
Hythe were now without doubt in the ascendancy and were catching the home continually on the break and so it was, when with 20 minutes left Ronnie Dolan was played through in the inside left channel and ran forward into the area unchallenged before stabbing the ball past the hopelessly exposed Byott.
 
It would have been worse still for the home side if their young keeper pulled off another fine save to deny Thompson and then Mickleborough.

Lordswood: Matt Byott; Andy Forster, Adam Hooper, Marc Morrison (Martin Taylor 61), Wes Hammond, Danny Cook, Matt McHugh, Peter Huggins, Dominic Elmes (Rob Newman 73), Steve Elliott, Sam Morrison (Luke Wallond 75).
Subs: Max Ciano, Craig Milligate
 
Hythe Town: Kieron Mann, Greg Smith, John Walker (Martin Chandler 46), Pat Kingwell, Gavin Ransley, Ronnie Dolan, Michael Yianni (Ollie Finch 85), Lee Winfield, Craig Thompson (Ashley Porter 79), Brendon Cass, Gary Mickelborough.
Sub: Alex Conyers
 
Goals: Brendon Cass 34, Craig Thompson 59, Ronnie Dolan 70
 
Attendance: 125
Referee: Mr Richard Joss (Margate)
Assistants:  Mr Will Sanderson (Margate) and Mr Michael Kent (Sittingbourne)