We love being the underdog, says Hythe Town boss Scott Porter

HYTHE TOWN boss Scott Porter says his side are relishing the underdog tag for their FA Carlsberg Trophy tie at Bury Town on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.


Hythe won their inaugural FA Carlsberg Trophy tie when Ronnie Dolan’s last-gasp strike sealed a deserved 1-0 victory over negative Burgess Hill Town at Reachfields Stadium a couple of weeks ago.

And their reward is a trip to Bury Town in the Second Qualifying Round.

The Suffolk side lie in eighth in the Ryman Premier League with seven wins and a draw from thirteen games , whilst mid-table Hythe are coming to terms with their inaugural campaign in the league below, with a record of five wins and two draws from thirteen games.

“It’s going to be tough,” warned Porter. “They’ve got a decent side, obviously a league above us and they’ve got some experienced players who have played in the Football League before.

“But we’re the underdogs, we’ve been and done it before against teams like that in divisions higher than us and it plays into our favour really because we’ve got nothing to lose, they’ve got everything to lose.

“They’ve had a couple of bad results.  We had them watched on Tuesday and we’ll try and go up there and try to cause an upset.”

Porter added: “We wanted a home draw but you have to play what’s in front of you and we’ll go up there full of confidence after the last few results and we’ve got nothing to lose, we’re the underdogs and we’ll give it our best shot.”

Porter will inspire his troops to grab victory at Ram Meadow to earn a potential third qualifying round tie against a Blue Square Bet South side.

“You only have to look at last season and what we achieved against the bigger clubs and we’ll look back on that tonight and Saturday and we’ll take plusses from that because we know we can do it if it runs rightly on the day.  You never know.  It’s a game of football after all and you have to play what’s in front of you.

“We’re buzzing, we can’t wait for it.  We’re full of confidence at the moment.   The boys’ are playing with a lot of belief and hopefully we can go up there and give it our best crack.  Football’s football, you never know what might happen, but we’ve got a good as a chance as anyone going up there.

“We love being the underdog and we always do better against the bigger teams.

“That’s what spurs your season on and you want to continue as far as you can in these big competitions as you don’t know what’s around the corner especially with the likes of Dover or Dartford at home or away in front of a big crowd.  Our boys’ deserve that with the effort that they’ve put in for us so far this season.

“We’ve got Bury in front of us.  The massive incentives towards this game is the money, the next round and so forth.  We’ll be laying that down to the boys’ tonight and on Saturday and hopefully we can cause a shock.”

Porter, meanwhile, has brought in former Sittingbourne and Maidstone United defender Nick Reeves, following a short spell with Leatherhead, but has released target-man Lloyd Blackman and the club’s longest serving player, midfielder Lee Winfield.

Porter enticed Blackman from Whitstable Town in the summer and said: “It didn’t work out for him to be honest.  The strikers’ we had, I’ve brought Jimmy (James Dryden) down as well and it’s just hasn’t worked out for Lloyd.

“He’s a great lad, got a great attitude and it’s probably the hardest decision that I’ve had to make as a manager as I got on well with him but at the end of the day it’s what happens on the football pitch that counts and he wasn’t doing it and it wasn’t going for him.

“We had to release him to bring another one in.  We’ve brought in Nick Reeves, that’s the logic on that really.”

Porter added: “Winny has left, he’s a close friend of mine but he said he’s had his time at Hythe and he wants to move on. 

“I don’t think he can cope with the pressures of Ryman South. At the end of the day you respect people’s opinions and their decisions and I’ve done exactly that.”

Visit Hythe Town’s website: www.hythetownfc.co.uk  

Bury Town  v  Hythe Town
FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Qualifying Round
Saturday 5^th November 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Ram Meadow, Cotton Lane, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1XP