Hythe Town 3-0 Lancing - The aim is to get away from that bottom four, says Hythe Town boss Nick Davis, while Lancing manager Jamie Hollis gets sacked in the morning

Hythe Town 3 – 0 Lancing
Location	Reachfields Stadium, off Fort Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 6JS
Kickoff	26/10/2024 15:00

HYTHE TOWN  3-0  LANCING
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 26 October 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Reachfields Stadium

HYTHE TOWN manager Nick Davis says he has seen a change in mentality from his players’ after climbing out of the Isthmian League South East Division drop zone by comfortably winning this relegation six-pointer against Lancing.

 

All three goals were scored during the first-half with talented Maidstone United loanee Riley Court, 18, scoring direct from a free-kick that he won, before former Folkestone Invicta winger, Ellis Brown, 29, scored twice on his debut, as the Cannons claimed their first League win since beating Steve Lovell’s Herne Bay side here 2-1 on Tuesday 10 September.

Hythe Town’s Results at Reachfields Stadium in games covered by this website over the past three years:

Saturday 4 September 2021 – Ascot United – Won 1-0 – FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Saturday 5 March 2022 – Ashford United – Lost 1-2 – League
Wednesday 27 April 2022 – Folkestone Invicta – Lost 0-2 – Kent Senior Cup Semi-Final

Tuesday 23 August 2022 – Raynes Park Vale – Won 5-4 (aet) – FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay
Saturday 19 November 2022 – Lancing – Won 3-1 – League
Saturday 25 February 2022 – Three Bridges – Drew 1-1 – League

Saturday 12 August 2023 – East Grinstead Town – Won 4-0 – League
Tuesday 3 October 2023 – Ashford United – Drew 2-2 – League
Tuesday 31 October 2023 – Ramsgate – Won 3-1 – FA Trophy First Round
Saturday 18 November 2023 – Tonbridge Angels – Drew 0-0 (Hythe Town win 3-1 on penalties) – FA Trophy Second Round
Tuesday 12 December 2023 – Whitehawk – Won 3-2 – FA Trophy Third Round
Saturday 13 January 2024 – Chorley – Lost 1-2 – FA Trophy Fourth Round
Saturday 3 February 2024 – Ramsgate – Drew 2-2 – League

Saturday 26 October 2024 – Lancing – Won 3-0 – League

The Cannons went into this must-win game on a back of nine games without a win in all competitions, while Jamie Hollis’ side arrived at Reachfields Stadium a place beneath the Cannons with four points from 10 league games and having picked up back-to-back League defeats to league leaders Beckenham Town (0-1) in Del Oldfield’s first game in charge and a 3-1 defeat at Ashford United in midweek.

Davis made four changes to his side that lost 3-0 at Deal Town on Tuesday night in the Kent Senior Cup, as Steve King’s side have knocked Hythe Town out of both the Velocity Cup and County Cup competition at The Charles Sports Ground in the last six weeks.

The pressure was on Hythe Town to put in the performance and claim their third league win of the season and Davis was pleased that his side delivered.

“It’s been a long time coming!  I thought we were worth the victory,” admitted Davis, who has won two, drawn one and lost 12 of his 15 games in charge since replacing Sammy Moore at the helm at Reachfields Stadium in August.

“Some of the counter-attacking in the first half, we should’ve scored a couple more maybe in the second half as well but we were very professional in the second half.

“We restricted them to one real opportunity, I think and that was a professional performance in the second half, our first clean-sheet of the season, so pleased.”

Lancing started the game on the front foot, with left-back Charlie Gibson and winger Noel Fisher linking up well, causing a threat to Hythe Town’s right-back Amadeus Addotey, who was substituted in the 33^rd minute following a bang to the head and suffering from dizziness.

However, Hythe Town created their first opening with four minutes and 29 seconds on the clock, following a set-piece.

Central midfielder, Medy Elito, 34, floated a right-footed free-kick in behind Lancing’s very high line of defenders and Hythe Town’s resilient centre-half Lex Allan used his height to tower over his marker and loop a header just over the crossbar from 12-yards.

“Lex is just steady Eddie isn’t he?  He’s so good. His fitness levels are very good. He wins his headers and he talks,” said Davis.

“I made him captain when Jack Steventon left and he’s stepped up to it really.

“We’re a very young side, you can see that and at times we’ve had seven or eight teenagers and they’re not 19-year-olds, we’re talking 17 year-olds and that’s difficult for any team to have that many teenagers.

“Lex has played a key role in sort of nurturing them and helping everyone through. Look, he’s only 25 himself but he’s been here for ever.”

Lancing striker Luke Robinson often dropped deep to pick up low passes from centre-half Harry Docherty but Lancing lacked any killer instinct in attack and Allan and his central defensive partner, Louie Procopi were resilient.

“We had them watched at Ashford on Tuesday.  Their movements were really good in midfield.  Yes, he (Robinson) drops in and they rotate.  They create overloads and we knew that. We knew their full-backs bomb on so initially we pressed them high but we couldn’t do that for 90 minutes. We probably haven’t got the fitness levels to be able to do that,” explained Davis.

“I thought the six (Scott) was probably their best ball player in midfield. I don’t know whether he was injured and that was the game plan second half.  Instead of pressing them so high, get Riley to deal with him, the six.

“They’re quite a good side.  They move the ball well, they’ve got a lot of energy, they missed someone up front - don’t we all!”

Hythe Town took the lead with six minutes and 47 seconds on the clock, following a quality free-kick from attacking midfielder Court.

Court cut inside Docherty and reached the left by-line within the channel before his progress was ended by a bookable challenge from Docherty.

Court whipped a right-footed free-kick across the goalkeeper and into the bottom far corner of the goal to give Hythe Town a vital confidence boost and only their eighth league goal this season.

“Riley was a threat, wasn’t he?  That’s what he gives in that 10 (role). He’s so sharp and with his little turns and he breaks the play up and he breaks the lines and it was nice to get an early goal,” said Davis.

“It seemed like it was going down the middle of the goal, maybe I’m doing him a misjustice for his strike because it was a great strike, a great goal.

“He featured last year (for Maidstone United) against Ipswich and other games at the age of 17.

“I played with his dad, funnily enough, Ian Court when I was at Maidstone with him and Mo Takaloo – I feel old!

“He’s a class act.  I said to him before the game, ‘listen, you’ve got all of the attributes in the world but sometimes you’ve got to do the not so nice things’ because the higher you go, they’ll see he’s got talent but then they will probably say you need to do the stuff when you haven’t got the ball and go nick the ball.

“He actually nicked the ball for the free-kick for the goal, so fair play to him. He was a real threat all day.”

When asked about Court and left-back Sam Smith’s loan deal from National League South side Maidstone United, Davis replied: “It’s rolling. We can have them for as long as we want, the pair of them.”

The home side started to play on the front-foot following Court’s second goal for the club, with goalkeeper Joe Coleman often rushing kicks up field after plucking balls comfortably out of the air from inside his penalty area.

Lancing goalkeeper Alieu Secka made a comfortable save in the 17^th minute as Hythe Town probed.

Lancing failed to press Elito inside their own half before he fed Brown on the right, before he played the ball inside to Siao Blackwood inside the final third.  The impressive Court swept a first-time pass into Brown, who teed up Blackwood, who cut onto his left-foot and stroked a 22-yard drive, which was comfortably caught at the second attempt by Lancing’s 26-year-old Gambian born goalkeeper.

“We caught them on the counter-attack a few times, didn’t we,” added Davis.

“Lancing play good football but they take risks and with that I think we nicked the ball off them quite well, hence the goals came from when we broke with real pace.

“If we get that second then it puts us right in the box seat, doesn’t it, but we didn’t get it there but we did well to nick it back.”

Hythe Town were showing plenty of desire but Lancing started to enjoy a spell of possession and created their only goalscoring chance on the first half on the half-hour mark.

Left-back Charlie Gibbons threw the ball to Leon Moore, who fed winger Lewis Lembikisa, who cut in from the touchline into the middle before stroking a low right-footed drive towards the goal from 20-yards, which was comfortably saved by Coleman, dropped down to his knees to gather in the centre of his goal.

Reflecting on the former Folkestone Invicta and Lydd Town goalkeeper’s performance, Davis said: “He was excellent today wasn’t he, Joe?  I think he came and caught everything and his kicking was really good.

“I know we’ve conceded some goals (31 in the League), but he’s been outstanding for us. He’s a great guy, a good goalkeeper.

“They’re going to have spells, aren’t they?  But if we’re restricting them to shots like that, which I think I did, the attacks they had were half-chances really.”

Blackwood slotted in at right-back to replace Addotey, while holding midfielder David Ozobia slotted in beside Elito in front of the back four and worked hard and covered plenty of ground in the Hythe Town engine room.

Theo McKenzie, meanwhile, returns from suspension next weekend, while Harry Rowland was ruled out through a groin strain.

Lancing pushed up wingers Lembikisa (left) and Noel Fisher (right) with Robinson in the middle but the trio couldn’t create any chances going into the interval.

Lancing central midfielder Harrison Parker sprung into life and cut the ball to Robinson, whose low cross from the left was put behind by Allan at the near-post, as Lancing forced their third of five corners.

Gibson’s corner from the left saw Hythe Town twice clear their lines, as Blackwood kept composed to play the ball out of his penalty area, before Hythe Town counter-attacked to double their lead, with 35 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock.

Anthony Adesite received the ball inside the Hythe half and close to the centre-circle before releasing striker Vance Bola down the left and he was unselfish to roll the ball across the penalty area to pick out the unmarked Brown, who swept his first-time right-footed clinical shot into the bottom near corner from 10-yards.

“Vance has done so well there actually because it was a great winner from Siao in our box and I actually commented on that and Anthony passed to Vance and then Vance outmuscled his man,” said Davis.

“The ref was giving free-kicks a lot light than that and then Ellis was in the right place at the right time.  You can see he’s played higher, he hasn’t played for a month and it was a great debut for him.”

When asked what the former Hornchurch, Cray Wanderers and Folkestone Invicta winger can bring to the party, Davis replied: “I like pace in wide areas. I like counter-attacking football and I saw that today and he gives us that in abundance.

“He’s a right-footed winger, who wants to play on the right wing. All other wingers that are right-footed play on the left-wing because they want to cut in and shoot and he’s very direct. He’s off the shoulder and he will cause problems at this level of football.

“He got nine goals for Cray Wanderers last year and he was at Hornchurch for four years and he scored in The FA Trophy Final at Wembley.  It didn’t work out for him at Folkestone and we’ve picked up on that.”

Docherty hit a long diagonal out of defence, the ball was chested down by Leon Moore and the impressive Robinson smacked his left-footed half-volley screaming harmlessly wide of the left-hand post from 30-yards.

The impressive Court played a first time right-footed pass along the deck some 20-yards to release Adesite and the left-winger’s initial shot was charged down inside the box and the ball came out to Bola, who cracked a first-time right-footed drive sailing just over the crossbar from 20-yards.

Hythe Town killed the game off by scoring their third goal one minute and 44 seconds into stoppage time – the referee Richard Joss was expected to play a minimum of two minutes.

Robinson was pressed by Brown on the half-way line and the winger snatched the ball off the Lancing number nine, before slipping the ball down the middle for Bola, who found Brown in space, who clinically drilled his right-footed shot past the keeper at his near post to find the bottom right-hand corner.

“A good goal! Again, we broke didn’t we. Was it three-v-two maybe and that’s exactly what we looked to do and we set up to play that way,” explained Davis.

“We’ve been open too often this season. If you take away the Sittingbourne game (losing 6-0 there last Saturday), we’ve been so close. Before that, the Eastbourne game we had someone sent off and we were much better, we should’ve got something. Steyning, away, we lost 2-1 and Croydon Athletic we were 1-0 up for 60 minutes.

“We’re not a million miles away, other than what happened last Saturday, which was a real set-back.

“I always knew, we get one or two players in, it will make a massive difference and I think that showed today.”

Despite their three-goal lead at the break, this game was not won, as Stansfeld found out on Wednesday night – leading convincingly 4-1 at half-time against struggling Rusthall, before that game finished in a remarkable 6-6 draw in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

Davis was keen for his side to replicate their first-half performance after the interval.

“I wanted more of the same really.  Let’s make sure we’re solid, let’s make sure we’re not going to concede and don’t give them any incentive because a goal for them early on, the game’s not finished and I said to them the game’s not done yet.  We’ve not won this game yet so don’t think we’ve won it yet.

“Yes, we’re buzzing in there, everyone’s happy but it was only half a job done.”

Lancing manager Hollis – who has now lost 11 of his 15 games in all competitions this season – made a tactical switch at the break, hooking Bermuda international Knory Scott – who sat in front of the back four and bringing on Ta’shae Andall-Gibbons.

Hollis opted to play ineffective central midfielder Parker at the heart of defence with Samuel Bull to his left and Docherty to his right, with Shay Matthews (right) and Gibson (left) as high wing-backs in attack, or to make it a back five while defending.

Leon Moore dropped back as a holding midfielder, with two players pushed up in attack (Lembikisa joining Robinson).

The change in shape had the desired effect for Lancing, as both teams cancelled each other out for the vast majority of the second half, as Hythe Town’s intensity levels dropped.

Davis said: “We didn’t give them much the whole second half really.  We were catching them on the break with some good movement and some good openings but we didn’t score that fourth goal.

“I think the fourth one really puts them to bed because if they get one at 3-1, nerves kick in because we’ve been conceding.  We were very professional in the second half.”

The Cannons went close to scoring their fourth goal of the game with exactly nine minutes on the clock, in the third phase of Elito’s right-wing corner, the second of three for the home side.

Left-back Sam Smith’s first-time pass was played out wide to the corner taker, before Brown reached the by-line on the right and cut the ball back towards the edge of the box where Bola placed his right-footed shot just past the foot of the near-post.

Lancing changed shape again, with Bull slotting in at left-back and it was only when their leading goalscorer Docherty, with three goals, was deployed as a right-winger rather than a centre-half that they started to create late chances.

Hythe Town were too comfortable going into the final 15 minutes and pressure must now be on Hollis to turn things around.

Davis threw on debutant striker Danny Parish (32:14-49:56) for his first start of the season and the Sittingbourne man almost scored with his second touch.

Adesite ignored playing the ball on the inside to Bola and instead split open Docherty to play Parish in on goal and with his second touch he dragged his left-footed shot across Secka, who comfortably gathered.

“A great run. He angled his run and you can see where he gets his goals from because even in that one bit of movement was fantastic and Anthony put him through, probably on his weaker left-foot but he just snatched the shot didn’t he. It was a good save, the angle was probably against him,” added Davis, who was asked about the terms of the move.

“Well he’s not had a lot of football and with Ryan Maxwell there, he’s looking for him to get some game time. It just works for us because we needed another option up there and if we can get him sharper and scoring goals for us, then that’s benefiting everyone.

“He’s signed forms, let’s put it that way but I think they’ll want to have him back but we’ve sort of got an agreement that might be the case but we’ve got an experienced centre forward on the bench that’s happy to come on and manage himself and his injury really.”

Lancing were to be denied a consolation (43:06) after Hythe Town substitute Kian Scott kicked the ball into touch.

Docherty (now playing wide) threw the ball into the right-channel to Robinson, who cut into the box and his left-footed shot was comfortably held by Coleman, diving low to his left to save at his near-post.

When asked about his side’s first clean-sheet of the season, Davis replied: “It’s so important and it should be important for everyone.

“We’ve got to start shoring up at the back as a team and we need to do it as a team and that’s starts from the front.  As soon as we lose the ball, we need to get our shape very, very quickly, which we haven’t been doing quickly enough, so I’m pleased.

“Louie Procopi at the back with Lex Allan was superb, weren’t they? We had to put Siao Blackwood at right-back because of the injury to Amadeus.  He’s dizzy, he hit his head so out for precaution we had to just take him off and Siao is very flexible, he can play anywhere on the pitch really because we’re not blessed with loads and loads of defenders.”

The Cannons picked up just the one booking, a pressing Ozobia was late on a challenge on Leon Moore, who cracked a 30-yard shot high and wide before referee Richard Joss brought play back and gave Lancing a free-kick.

Docherty stroked his right-footed free-kick towards goal from 28-yards and Coleman dropped down to his knees to make a comfortable save in the middle of his goal.

Scott played a 20-yard pass to fed Parish, who cracked a low right-footed angled drive which forced Secka to dive low to his right to hold to deny Hythe Town a stoppage time fourth goal.

Davis admitted today’s big victory has eased the pressure on him, especially as Hythe resident and legendary former Folkestone Invicta manager Neil Cugley was in attendance.

“I put pressure on myself.  For me it was a must-win game today. We’ve had a tough run of fixtures. I think we’ve played five of the top seven, Ramsgate away, Sittingbourne away, Beckenham away and we’ve had a tough run.

“I haven’t been able to put a settled side out of 16. That’s the strongest 16 that we’ve been able to put out so far. Hopefully, I can add one or two in the defensive areas as well but you can see all off a sudden we look a bit of a threat going forward, which we haven’t shown so far really this season.”

Davis would have been under sever pressure had his side lost today’s game and when it was put to him that Cugley was in the crowd, Davis replied: “You never know, you can always speculate anything. That’s the way that football is but a must-win game, we’ve turned up, haven’t we?

“I said (to my players’) how important the game was, after last weekend to bounce back. I thought it was near-enough a complete performance.  We had a clean sheet, one booking, three goals at home. We haven’t won on a Saturday this season other than the first game against Phoenix here – and we’re out of the bottom four!

“I’m just happy that we’ve won. It’s one game at a time. We’ve got 30 games left. It’s a long old season. We’ve had a tough run of games. We’ve not had the commitment from some of the players and we’ve had injuries and with that to put a side together, I think the tables have turned.

“We’ve got some experienced lads in, some proper semi-professional players’ now and they’ve set the standards.  Everyone’s turning up to training on Thursday (night), everyone was here on time and the mentality needed to change and I’ve seen the change actually with the likes of Vance Bola, Medy Elito and the likes of Ellis Brown and Danny Parish, they’re experienced players from this level and above and we were desperate for that because we were very young and a little bit naïve.

Sammy Moore’s Six match Reign at Reachfields Stadium:

April 2024:
Away – Broadbridge Heath – Lost 0-2 - League
Home – Cray Valley (Paper Mills) – Lost 0-4 - League
Home – Lancing – Drew 1-1 - League

First Seven Days of this season:
Away – Abbey Rangers-  Drew 2-2 – FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Home – Abbey Rangers –  Lost 2-3 – FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
Home – Phoenix Sports – Won 2-1 - League

“I always said, when I first came in, players, good players would not be available because they’re going to still be seeing if they’re going to get the game time with their clubs, so we had to be patient. We’ve had to be really patient with the people that we wanted.

“I got one or two wrong that were available at the time. I got wrong because I didn’t see them play. I didn’t have my pre-season.  Had I had my pre-season you get to see players and their commitment and their fitness levels.

“You never come in at a job at a good time, I don’t think, unless you’re Del Oldfield, who’s come in at Beckenham.”

Davis takes his side to ninth-placed Deal Town (five wins from their 11 league games) for the third time in six weeks, going in search for their first points on the road in the League.

King’s side picking up 15 points from 11 games but were on the end of a 4-1 defeat at league leaders Beckenham Town today, who are seven points clear of Ramsgate, who do have five games in hand.

Darren Anslow has now suffered four straight league defeats since taking charge of Phoenix Sports, who remain at the foot of this eighth-tier division, with one point from their opening 12 games.

Lancing remain in the bottom two, having picked up four points from 11 games.  Steyning Town Community are finding their new surroundings tough, with six points from 11 games, while Littlehampton Town were without a game today and have collected eight points from nine games.

Hythe Town are now in 18^th place in the table with nine points (three wins) from their 12 games, level on points with Three Bridges (who have two games in hand) while Ashford United are in sixteenth-place in the table with 11 points from eight games.

Davis said: “We’ve played Deal twice already, we know them quite well.  They’ve probably not seen four or five of our players because we played them in both of the Cups and the both of the Maidstone lads were cup-tied so they’ll be playing for Maidstone on Tuesday night (Welling United away in the Kent Senior Cup Second Round) and then back with us.

“We want one or two more in before them as well. Deal is a tough place to go, one of the toughest.  I think we’ve been to some of the toughest places in the league, Sittingbourne, Ramsgate, Beckenham and Deal but we’ve got to play everyone.

“We’ve won three at home. If we win our home games we know what we need to do. The aim is to get away from that bottom four. Results have gone with us today, last week and midweek. We’re confident.”

Hythe Town have spent £30,000 on improving the grass playing surface and stadium improvements to the bar above the seated stand and a new bar being installed behind the goal at the Fort Road end of the stadium is next on the to-do list for chairman Matthew Smith and CEO Gary Johnson.

“The club’s going from strength-to-strength and it will be force. I have no doubt about it,” insisted Davis.

“This is just a bit of a transitional period so for me we need to stay in this league, be comfortable in the league and then we look for next season. That’s the long-term plan.

“I just needed a win really. A win changes everything doesn’t it. I could see a big difference.  I think the front four will be a threat in this league.  We’ve got players’ that can hurt teams and you’ve always got a chance.

“We just have to be defensively better but when you’ve got that sort of attacking threat, you defend less don’t you?”

Hythe Town: Joe Coleman, Amadeus Addotey (David Ozobia 33), Sam Smith, Siao Blackwood, Lex Allan, Louie Procopi, Anthony Adesite (Kian Scott 87), Medy Elito, Vance Bola, Riley Court (Danny Parish 78), Ellis Brown (Sammi Takalobighashi 66).
Sub: D’Jean Spencer

Goals: Riley Court 7, Ellis Brown 36, 45

Booked: David Ozobia 90

Lancing: Alieu Secka, Shay Matthews, Charlie Gibson (Callum Erskine 58), Knory Scott (Ta’Shae Andall-Gibbons 46), Harry Docherty, Samuel Bull, Noel Fisher, Harrison Parker, Luke Robinson, Leon Moore, Lewis Lembikisa.
Subs: Thomas Dickson-Peters, Leon Fisher

Booked: Harry Docherty 7, Samuel Bull 23, Leon Moore 73, Harrison Parker 90

Attendance: 186
Referee: Mr Richard Joss
Assistants: Mr Christopher Cannon & Mr Mark Roberts 

Article Update: Sunday 27 October 2024

Lancing parted company with their manager Jamie Hollis and his assistant Phil Norman following yesterday's 3-0 defeat at Hythe Town.

A club statement, posted on their club website, said: "It is with great regret that Lancing Football Club today announce that we have taken the difficult decision to part ways with Jamie Hollis in his role as first team manager with immediate effect.

"The club would like to place on record their thanks to Jamie and Phil for their hard work and dedication, not just this season but also as part of the successful regime last season, and with them all the very best in their future endeavours.

"The recruitment process is underway and we will keep supporters updated in the coming days."

Hollis has lost 11 of his 15 games in all competitions this morning and remain in second-from-bottom in the Isthmian League South East Division table, following their 3-0 defeat at Reachfields Stadium yesterday.