Everyone is writing us off and no one's talking about this team - we've got that us-versus-them mentality so let's go and prove people wrong, says Hythe Town boss Steven Watt

HYTHE TOWN manager Steven Watt says he remained calm on the sidelines during last night’s nine-goal FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay epic against Raynes Park Vale.

The Cannons saw off the impressive Combined Counties League Premier Division South side 5-4 after extra time at Reachfields Stadium to earn a home tie against Southern League Premier South side Hayes & Yeading United in the First Qualifying Round on Saturday 3 September.

Meanwhile, holding midfielder James Rogers become the Cannons’ player-manager on 23 November 2021 after Watt stepped down as manager due to the club’s financial troubles last season.

Hythe Town maintained their Isthmian League South East Division status after finishing in seventeenth-place in the table on 39 points from 38 games, finishing six and nine points clear of relegated pair Phoenix Sports and Whitstable Town respectively.

Watt’s side have hit the ground running this season and are currently in the top five, having won their only league game of the season, 2-0 at Corinthian.

In The FA Cup they have beaten AFC Varndeanians 1-0 and came away from Raynes Park Vale with a 2-2 draw on Saturday, despite finishing the game with nine man and Frannie Collin’s 82^nd minute introduction last night changed the game in Hythe’s favour as he played a part in the last three goals in an epic battle against Joshua Gallagher’s impressive side.

“I was calm although I’ve not been involved in a game like that in my managerial career,” said Watt, 37.

Watt has been prized back by club secretary Martin Giles in the summer after Rogers’ reign at Reachfields Stadium lasted only 31 games.

“I’ve come back here, the club had a tough time last year, obviously lost a lot of games because of circumstances beyond our control and it’s about getting that winning feeling back here,” said Watt.

“We’re not a side that’s going to be easily beaten.  I think the teams that have played us, they’ve got to earn the right to beat us and so far we’ve had four games and we’re unbeaten in four, so we’ve got to keep on progressing in that.

“But we go to Saturday (at home to Sevenoaks) and if we lose Saturday then we go to (Ramsgate) on Monday and we move onto the next game and never dwell too much.

“We’ll speak about things that happened last night but full focus is on Saturday now and trying to get positives over there.”

Harry Hudson’s Sevenoaks Town comfortably beat Merstham 2-0  at Greatness Park tonight, after coming away from Surrey with a 1-1 draw in The FA Cup Preliminary Round on Saturday.

Hythe Town are currently without a chairman with Andy Short, who is also the Southern Counties East Football League secretary, taking the role of temporary chairman and overseeing committee meetings at the club.

Short confirmed last night that he doesn’t have a pot of gold to spend at the club so Watt has to work with a doable playing budget.

“Speaking to the club again and having a good chat with Martin Giles, I’ve been out of the game for a while before I came here and I didn’t want to be out of the game for that period of time again,” said Watt, when asked about his return.

“No other opportunities were seeming to come up.  There were whispers and other roles within clubs in terms of coaching roles or assistant manager roles but nothing materialised.

“I just felt it’s a great club to work for, it really is.  It’s a great place to be around.  The board and the people are fantastic and I had a chat with Martin when he put the package together that we were going to go with this year.  Yes, it’s not what I wanted it to be but it was definitely doable. 

“We could build a competitive team and I think we will be a competitive team this year and that’s the most important thing for this club.”

The Cannons banked £1,444 in prize money thanks for their exploits in The FA Cup this week.

Watt said: “Every bit of money and revenue that we can bring in is really important for us – and we want to finish as high up in the league.“

Their next two league opponents Sevenoaks Town and Ramsgate are both expected to be challenging for honours this season and their managers Hudson and Steve Lovell have budgets a lot higher than the Cannons.

“We’ve for to do the best we can, everyone is writing us off,” claimed Watt.

“No one’s talking about this team, everyone’s putting us sixteenth or seventeenth in the league.  There’s no pressure on the boys.

“I’ve got a lot of boys in there who haven’t been wanted by clubs, they were out when new managers have come in or have been released by clubs.

“I said we’re here together. We’ve got that us-versus-them mentality so let’s go and prove people wrong.  I think you saw that in particular last night in terms of the fight and the grit and how we defended our box at times was fantastic, how we chased and harried every single ball down.”

The retired centre-half who made one Premier League appearance for Chelsea in May 2005 during Jose Mourinho’s first spell at Stamford Bridge, added: “It’s great and it’s exactly what I wanted to do when I came back and hopefully, we can continue to win games, hopefully not 5-4.  I’d much rather win it 1-0 but it gives the fans a bit of entertainment.”

Hythe Town  v  Sevenoaks Town
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 27 August 2022
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Reachfields Stadium, Fort Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 6JS