Dartford 0-1 Hythe Town - Hopefully we can win many more things, says Hythe Town boss Scott Porter

DARTFORD  0-1  HYTHE TOWN
Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Final
Tuesday 24^th April 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

HYTHE TOWN boss Scott Porter says beating Dartford to bring the Kent Senior Cup to Reachfields Stadium for the very first time in the club’s history was the best thing he has ever achieved in his footballing career.

Hythe Town, who went into their second Kent Senior Cup Final sitting in a respectable eighth-place in their inaugural Ryman League Division One South campaign, were simply immense all over the park.

Holders Dartford, second in Conference South and thrashed their Blue Square Bet (Conference) South rivals Bromley 4-1 in last years’ final, failed to get past a world-class performance from Hythe Town keeper Dean Ruddy, who made a string of excellent saves during the second half.

Hythe Town skipper, central midfielder Dave Cook, scored his 20^th goal of the season, smashing his decisive seventh minute penalty straight down the middle, but Dartford squandered an excellent chance to draw level but Adam Green saw his penalty saved by the American stopper within two minutes.

This was no fluke from Porter and his heroes on their return to the competition, following their Kent League title win last season, which has seen the club record some famous giant-killing acts along the way to this glorious night at Princes Park Stadium.

Porter, who was holding the prestigious silverware with his right hand while he faced the media, was proud of his heroes.

“It’s quite emotional to be fair,” he said, on the club’s best ever night.

“I’ve just said a few words in the changing room with the boys.  That’s just a lot of hard work, passion and togetherness that we’ve generated at the club over the last three years’ since I’ve been manager and it’s not a shock!

“Obviously we’ve rode our luck, of course we’re going to ride out luck. They’re a Conference South team, who are gonna maybe be in the Conference Premier, Blue Square Premier, but we’ve had our chances.  We’ve had one second half.  We hit the crossbar.  That’s football.  You ride your luck at times.

“I’ve said that all the time we’re in the game, we can get something out of it. I told my players’ time and time again to keep believing in it, keep believing in it and we just keep believing we can beat these sides.  It’s just the way we are.  It’s the way we roll.  I credit to everyone at the football club because tonight is a massive, special occasion.”

Dartford manager, Tony Burman, meanwhile, was left stunned after a side that are two League’s below them have ended their seven match unbeaten run.

He said: “Fair play to Hythe.  They’ve come and they’ve done really well. It’s one of those games. If we had scored, we would’ve have gone on and scored more.

“I don’t want to take nothing away from Hythe. They’ve come and won the trophy on our patch as well and fair play to them.”

A routine victory over last year’s Kent Senior Trophy winners Erith Town sent Hythe on their way to greater things, stunning Conference Premier side Ebbsfleet United (a 4-1 win after extra time at Stonebridge Road), a famous 3-0 home win over Conference South giants Dover Athletic in the semi-finals, before tonight’s heroic victory in front of a crowd of 1,336.

Dartford, meanwhile, needed extra-time to knock out Folkestone Invicta and Tonbridge Angels in the earlier rounds, before sending favourites Charlton Athletic crashing out in the semi-finals, with a heroic 3-1 victory.

Burman, who made five changes from his side that were held to a 2-2 home draw by Boreham Wood at the weekend, although their sixteen-man squad tonight are all first teamers, were first denied by Ruddy early on.

Tom Champion released Tom Bonner down the inside left channel and the central defender delivered an excellent low centre for Jack Pallen, but the striker’s low shot from six-yards was blocked by Ruddy.

A terrific run from Taser Hassan saw Hythe’s left-winger beat Lee Burns for pace down the left and after cutting inside and having his low shot blocked by keeper Louis Wells, James Dryden was brought down by Green and referee Mr Paul Harris pointed to the spot.

The penalty was delayed while Dartford midfielder Champion received treatment inside Hythe’s half but Cook maintained his composure and stepped up and drove his right-footed penalty straight down the middle of the pitch, with Wells going slightly to his left, to give Hythe a dream start inside the opening seven minutes.

Porter said: “There’s a lot of pressure there and Dave’s handled it fantastically well to give us a great start, straight down the middle.  Look at their player, that’s not how you take a penalty!”

Burman added: “We should’ve gone 1-0 up and theyv’e gone the other end and get a penalty. We should score your penalties!  It doesn’t always happen. We should and it brings it back to 1-1.

“I think if we had got it back to 1-1 in the half, having said that they’ve hit the bar as well when their guy’s gone through and it could’ve been 2-0 to them.

“It was a much better game as far as I’m concerned, much more competitive than Saturday and it’s something I wanted us to get into.  I’ve mixed the teams around a little bit but I’m not being detrimental to Hythe.”

Burman summed it up perfectly when he admitted: “Fair play to them, they’ve come and they just probably wanted it a little bit more than us tonight.”

But Dartford immediately went up the other end and they forced a penalty of their own after Hythe left-back John Walker, who won his battle against talented Dartford winger Ryan Hayes, blocked Pallen’s driven shot with his hand, as he dived to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom near corner.

Dartford left-back Green, however, really should have scored his eighth goal of the season, but he stroked a poor penalty with his left foot, which was saved by Ruddy, who dived low to his right.

Porter said: “Dean Ruddy in goal has been absolutely outstanding!  You think here we go again, here we go.  You always concede straight after.  It was a great save by Dean and it started off a great evening for him.”

Hythe started brilliantly and their high tempo ensured Dartford weren’t given time on the ball and Hythe went agonisingly close to doubling their lead in the fifteenth minute.

Cook’s fine pass released Ronnie Dolan through on goal and his right-footed shot from sixteen-yards bounced agonisingly on the top of the crossbar.

Hythe’s defenders were getting their bodies in the way of shots and Pallen’s hooked half-volley into the ground bounced up and Ruddy plucked the ball out of the air.

Dartford skipper, Elliot Bradbrook, had a couple of efforts to equalise around the half-hour-mark.

Hayes whipped in a trademark free-kick with his lethal left-foot from the right and Bradbrook smashed a right-footed volley across Ruddy and past the far post from six-yards, before the influential Bradbrook stroked a 35-yard drive towards goal, which Ruddy was relieved to gather at the second attempt.

Former Dartford midfielder, Nick Barnes, was relishing his return to Princes Park as he lead the way with some fine tackling, which stopped Dartford finding their rhythm.

Porter knew it was important for his players to get stuck in against a quality Dartford outfit.

He said: “We know how they set out. They go from back to front very quick and they pick off the pieces.  If we could break that up we could do something, hit them on the break and things like that, but if we defended well, get in their faces and stop them playing, you’ve got a chance.

“If you give teams like this a lot of time and space you’ll come unstuck and we didn’t do that!!”

Barnes unleashed a low right-footed drive from 25-yards, which he curled wide of the far post after his former Dartford team-mate, striker Brendon Cass played the ball to him.

Dartford continued to press before the break.  Green tried to make amends when he unleashed a left-footed drive on the angle, which forced Ruddy into making a low save to his left after the ball was thrown into the box by Jacob Erskine.

Dartford did have the ball in the back of the net, but an offside flag was raised by the time Pallen looped the ball over Ruddy.

The second half turned into the Ruddy show as the Hythe keeper played one of his best games of his life.

For the first time in the match, Walker lost his dual with Hayes, who cut inside from the right touchline into the penalty area and Ruddy swiftly got down low to his right to turn the angled drive away.

However, Hythe almost snatched a second against the run of play in the 63^rd minute.

A trademark long throw from right-back Aaron Lacy dropped down at the far post and Cass poked the ball through to Cook, who looped a right-footed shot over from eight-yards.  Cook held his head in his hands as he knew he had to take such a rare chance.

Halfway through the half, Richard Graham played a low pass inside for substitute Lee Noble, whose shot from 30-yards flew over Ruddy’s crossbar.

Dartford substitute, eighteen-goal striker Danny Harris, almost lifted Dartford back into the game when he cut inside Lacy down the left and cracked a right-footed drive from sixteen-yards, which was tipped around the post by the diving Ruddy.

And within two minute, Harris teed up the ball for Erskine, whose left-footed drive forced Ruddy into saving low to his right.

The stadium scoreboard clock was taking an eternity to run down but Porter continued to bark out passionate instructions to his heroic players as they kept fighting for the cause to prevent Dartford forcing extra-time.

Hayes jumped out of Walker’s pocket as he almost equalised for Dartford as the game entered the final minute.

Graham swung in an excellent cross from the left and Hayes cut in and fired a left footed shot which was destined to find the bottom far corner, but the immense Pat Kingwell was there to clear the ball off the line.

Ruddy made his best save at the death, diving full length to his right to get a strong right hand to Noble’s fierce low right-footed drive from 25-yards after Harris cut the ball back.

Porter added: “Dean’s pulled off some great saves.  We’ve hit the crossbar, we’ve had a chance in the second half.  I can’t take nothing away from them.  Football’s, football.  You take your chance, you don’t.  You win games, you don’t win games and we’ve won tonight and it’s fantastic!

“I’m not signalling anyone out tonight. It’s a squad, even the subs.   We’ve done it together, we’ve got here together and we’ve won it together and hopefully we can win many more things and that’s what we’re trying to do at the football club.”

Burman admitted his side just couldn’t cope with Hythe Town’s competitive streak.

He said: “We just think that first half we got into playing the way they wanted us to play.  We were bashing everything down the middle and the centre halves go thanks very much.  Even though we had big Jacob down there but it wasn’t quite right.

“I just felt that we needed to get into that sort of fight with them and try to create more openings with some of our play. It was alright for the first fifteen minutes. We could’ve won the game in the first fifteen minutes even though they got a penalty.  We had some chances, which we shoud’ve put in the back of the net.”

For Hythe Town to clinch the Kent Senior Cup with the likes of Charlton Athletic and Gillingham back in the competition is a remarkable achievement and tonight brings back some romance back into the competition.

Porter said: “It’s a special competition with Charlton and Gillingham and Dover, Ebbsfleet and Dartford in it.   Look at the team they put out and they’ve showed us a lot of respect and so did Dover.

“We’ve won it the hard way and we’ve beat the top, top sides, with the top budgets with the top players and the top grounds and we’ve done it and no-one can take it away from us, no-one.

“They said it died, the Kent Senior Cup.  It hasn’t died this year because the teams are in it and the squad’s they are putting out so that’s a credit to our football lads’.”

Porter has guided the club to some memorable matches and he was quick to praise the fans who gave his side great support tonight.

“It’s about Hythe Town Football Club tonight.  Look at the supporters, who were here tonight, travelled all the way up this motorway and it’s fantastic to give them something to cheer about. It really is.  Credit to the football club, credit to the fans, they have come in numbers and I’m so glad we’ve got the trophy.”

Those fans have recently enjoyed memorable FA Cup ties against Hereford United, Staines Town, Woking in the past two years’, a Kent League title last year too, but how does tonight’s famous victory rate for Porter?

“Winning the League last year was a dramatic thing at the end and it was a long slog, but beating teams and coming to places like this and turning these teams over has got to be one of the best things I’ve ever done in my footballing career,” said Porter.

Darts boss Burman, meanwhile, admitted his players were thinking about their forthcoming play-off ties next week.

Basingstoke Town moved into fifth-place tonight following their 2-0 win away to relegation threatened Hampton & Richmond Borough in their penultimate league game – a result that maintains Bromley’s Conference South status.

As things stand, Dartford will travel to Basingstoke Town (or the team that finishes fifth) for the away leg next Wednesday, 2 May, before the return leg, at Princes Park on Sunday, 6 May.  The play-off final takes place seven days’ later.

Burman admitted: “There was too many of them probably thinking about the play-offs.  |I can’t blame them because they’re probably some tackles they would’ve won and they didn’t win.   If they get yellow cards or get a red card for a challenge, obviously it’s a little bit cautious.  I do feel for them sometimes but having said that if we don’t win our battles, our tackles in there.

“Listen, we’ll be ready for the play-offs but it’s awkward at the moment because Saturday was a non-event as far as I’m concerned and then tonight there was something to go for.  We wanted to win, but it didn’t happen.   There was a lot of effort.  There was a little lack of intelligence maybe. We’ve hit the target quite a few times and the goalkeeper’s pulled off some good saves and they’ve blocked it.  Listen, that’s football. It happens.

“We’ve got to play better and we will play better.  I just feel there were some areas there where we got beat up a little bit.   You can’t have that happening over the play-off games.  I just feel we’re thinking about the play-offs more than anything else.  Some of the players were desperate not to get injured and desperate not to get booked or desperate not to get a red card.  Once you’re thinking that it’s difficult to get it out of the mind.

“The blood and thunder bit which Hythe had tonight we’ve got to have in the play-offs – and a bit of quality as well.”

Burman added: “I said I didn’t want to get too down.  I want to get all my energy and all my thoughts going into the play-offs. Whatever happens Saturday the boys will be going out in Truro on Saturday evening, we’ll have a meal and a couple of drinks and we’ll reflect on what we’ve achieved. The icing on the cake is to come hopefully.”

Dartford:  Louis Wells, Lee Burns, Adam Green, Tom Bonner, Paul Goodacre (Lee Noble 62), Tom Champion, Ryan Hayes, Richard Graham, Jacob Erskine (Tony Garrod 81), Elliot Bradbrook, Jack Pallen (Danny Harris 56).
Subs:  James Rogers, Matt Jones

Booked:  Lee Noble 90

Hythe Town:  Dean Ruddy, Aaron Lacy, John Walker, Pat Kingwell, Nick Reeves, Ronnie Dolan, Dave Cook, Nick Barnes, James Dryden, Brendon Cass (Craig Thompson 85), Taser Hassan (Kieran Byrne 77).
Subs: Tom Parkinson, Ashley Porter, Kieron Mann.

Goal: Dave Cook 7 (pen)

Booked:  John Walker 9, Ronnie Dolan 11, Nick Barnes 45, Dave Cook 67, Nick Reeves 90

Attendance: 1,336
Referee:  Mr Paul Harris (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Lee Dyson (Gravesend) & Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley)
Fourth Official: Mr Paul Kelly (Walderslade)