We need to get wins quickly because we want to get ourselves back in the play-offs, says Hythe Town boss Sam Denly

HYTHE TOWN manager Sam Denly says he hasn’t given up on snatching a place in the Bostik South East Division play-offs at the end of the season.

 

The Cannons extended their unbeaten run to four games after coming home from Crayford with a point in an entertaining 2-2 draw at fellow play-off chasing VCD Athletic yesterday.

Goalkeeper George Kamurasi popped up to volley in a last-gasp equaliser in a game marred by controversy and incident for the 107 fans inside Oakwood.

Winger Kieron Campbell tucked home a finish after running for 60 yards to give Denly’s side a 26^th minute lead.

Keith McMahon’s side scored twice in 96 seconds in the second half through Jake McIntyre’s penalty and a controversial strike from winger Aymun El-Moyhalbel.

There were 22 corners in the game and Hythe levelled with their eighth flag-kick, although McMahon claimed Kamurasi used his hand to control Charlie Webster’s corner before volleying through a crowded goal-mouth.

There was still time for Hythe captain Chris Kinnear to be red-carded for a lunge on Vickers' holding midfielder Jack Steventon at the death.

All of the top eight sides have played 22 games and have 14 league games remaining.

Cray Wanderers remain at the summit with 55 points and the four play-off places are occupied by Hastings United (44), Ashford United (42), Horsham (41) and Whyteleafe (38).

Waiting in the wings are Haywards Heath (36), VCD Athletic (35) and Hythe Town are on 33.

“There’s 42 points to play for still so there’s a lot of points to play for. There’s a lot of football to be played and I do believe one of the teams outside, if not two, will get in the top five come the end of the season,” said Denly, whose side have been held to draws by Haywards Heath and Sevenoaks Town (both 0-0) and VCD Athletic in their last three outings.

“We’ve got to go on a run and win games of football. We’re unbeaten this year which is a good stat but we have to turn those draws into wins if we want to find ourselves in the top five.

“There’s a lot of good teams in there so we’re not taking anything for granted. We need to get wins quickly because we want to get ourselves back in the play-offs and that’s got to start soon.

“We’ve got Three Bridges and then we’ve got Faversham (away on Tuesday 5 February), so we’ll be looking to keep going.”

Three Bridges arrive at Reachfields Stadium next Saturday sitting in 12^th place in the table with 27 points on the board and they were defeated 1-0 by third-placed Ashford United yesterday.

“We had a terrible December. I think we lost four (of our seven league defeats) in December and we’ve brought in (centre-half) Ollie Rowe, whose been outstanding and we’ve stopped the rot, which is hard to do when you’re on a losing run and we’re now four unbeaten.

“It’s hard to stop and we’ve done that and the focus is shifting that momentum into draws into three points.”

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

Hythe Town  v  Three Bridges
Bostik South East Division
Saturday 2 February 2019
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Reachfields Stadium, Fort Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 6JS