Saturday 20th January 2024
Hythe Town vs Erith & Belvedere
Pitching In Isthmian League South East Division
Kick-off 3.00pm
Reachfields Stadium, Fort Road, Hythe, Kent, CT21 6JS

Please note there is a pitch inspection scheduled for 10am, we will keep you updated on the outcome

The Deres are on the road on Saturday when we travel down to the Kent coast to face Hythe Town.

Here is everything you need to know about tomorrow's game.

Admission Prices
£10 - Adults
£7 - Concessions (Over 60's, Registered Disabled, and Student Card Holders)
£2 - Under 16's

Match Officials
Referee: Joe McKay
Assistant Referees: Simon Cutler & Marian Stoichitoiu

Getting to the Game

By Car
The Reachfields Stadium is easily accessible from the M20 motorway. Leave the M20 at junction 11, then at the roundabout take the 3rd exit onto the B2068, signposted Hastings, Hythe. At the next roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Ashford Road, A20. Continue forward onto Ashford Road, A20. Entering Newingreen, at the T-junction turn left onto Hythe Road, A261, signposted Hythe. Continue forward down London Road, A261. Entering Hythe, continue forward at the traffic lights onto Scanlons Bridge Road, A2008. Turn right at the next set of lights onto Dymchurch Road, A259. Either take the 1st left down Fort Road and turn right at the end of Fort Road for the car-park, or after a few hundred yards turn left onto the Reachfields estate. Follow the road round and the stadium will be on your right.

By Public Transport
The nearest train station to Reachfields is Sandling. There are regular trains to Sandling from London Bridge and London Charing Cross, as well as Ashford International. From the station the ground is approximately half an hour on foot and would include a steep climb on the homeward journey. Therefore, a taxi is advisable, Folkestone Taxi's 01303 252000.

The Opposition
Club Name: Hythe Town
Ground: Reachfields Stadium, Fort Road, Hythe, Kent, CT21 6JS
Distance from Park View Road (Round Trip): 112 miles
Colours: Red
Manager: Steve Watt
Last Season: 5th

History
Hythe Town Football Club was formed in August 1910 although football in Hythe can be traced back into the previous century. The club joined the Folkestone and District Leagues and after the First World War had some success with four championships and only once outside the top three in fourteen seasons. They moved up into the Kent Amateur League in 1936 and were promoted into Division One before the Second World War intervened. The 50s and 60s saw little league success but that changed in the early 70s under manager Bob Davis with three successive league titles and a Kent Junior Cup win. Hythe were granted senior status and elected into the Kent League in 1977, playing at the newly acquired Reachfields, a former army sports ground on the edge of the town’s firing ranges. The club were runners-up in the Kent League on three occasions. When property developer Tony Walton took over Hythe Town in February 1988 there was a rapid rise on and off the pitch.
Town won the 1988/9 Kent League title by 14 points and set a league record of 133 goals. The club moved up into the Southern League.

The next season saw another promotion as the main aim, but the club’s great run to the FA Vase semi-finals handicapped their league ambitions, with four games a week at times, and a sixth-place finish. Hythe lost out to the eventual Vase winners Yeading, winning the home leg 3-2 in front of the club’s record attendance of 2,147, but losing the second leg 2-0 with the crucial goal coming from a big deflection.

The following season was very similar, topping the table in November but runs in four cups again caused fixture congestion and a final placing of eighth. Hythe lost out to Trowbridge Town in a Vase quarter-final second replay, lost to Chelmsford City over two legs in the Southern League Cup final, but won the Kent Senior Trophy and retained the Eastern Professional Floodlight Cup. The club played 40 league games and 33 cup ties.

In 1991/2 Hythe again topped the table in the early months but the money was beginning to run out. The club did reach the final of the Kent Senior Cup, losing in extra-time to Bromley at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium. That match proved to be Walton’s last game, and he put the club into liquidation soon after. Supporters rallied round and entered a scratch side, as Hythe United, into the following season’s Kent County League and negotiated continued use of Reachfields Stadium. After three seasons the club regained senior status and in 1995 were elected back into the Kent League. The early seasons saw the club struggle in the wrong half of the table. In 2001 Hythe dropped the “United” suffix, reverting to “Town” and in November 2002 appointed Paul Fisk as manager. This proved a turning point and Hythe became a regular top-six Kent League club.

Season 2007/8 saw Hythe top of the table in March but fall away to finish fourth. The highlight was a fantastic FA Cup win over Andy Hessenthaler’s Dover Athletic before a crowd of 1,109 at Reachfields, and achieving the important Ryman League ground grading. The club achieved the runners-up spot the following season and then Scott Porter, who had been Paul Fisk’s assistant, took over as manager for the 2009/10 season with Clive Cook as his number two. There was a third-place finish in the league and another good FA Cup performance, holding Woking to a draw at Reachfields before losing the replay in Surrey.

The 2010/11 season was possibly the most successful in the history of the club, with Porter leading the side to the Kent League Championship for the first time in over twenty years and promotion to the Ryman League. After a 22-match unbeaten run in the new year, dropped points over Easter took the championship to the wire and the league title was clinched in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season thanks to a last-minute equaliser at Tunbridge Wells. Brendan Cass won the Kent League Golden Boot. This was coupled with the club’s best ever F.A. Cup run, and the best for any Kent League side since the 1950s. Hythe negotiated their way through six rounds, including memorable wins over higher-league opposition at Concord Rangers of the Ryman Premier and at home to Staines Town of the Blue Square Bet South. The prize was an away draw in the First Round Proper to League Two side Hereford United. It was one round too far on the pitch, the hosts comfortably winning 5-1 with Gary Mickelborough getting the Hythe goal.

During the 2011/2 season the club maintained their progress and finished in eighth place in Ryman Division One South. Hythe were also able to get their hands on some silverware as wins over Ebbsfleet United and Dover Athletic were followed by a single goal victory in the final at Dartford to lift the Kent Senior Cup. The following season ended with a 17-match unbeaten run and a fourth-place finish. This brought about the club’s first play-off appearance but there was defeat at Faversham Town in the semi-final. Dave Cook scored 28 goals in total and won the Ryman One South Golden Boot.

After another eighth-place finish Porter and Cook left the club at the end of 2013/4. Tim Dixon was appointed as the new manager but it was a disappointing season that saw Hythe finish in sixteenth position. After a poor start to 2015/6 the club parted company with Dixon in September. Clive Cook returned to take over, this time as manager and led a remarkable turnaround from the relegation places to finish fourth as the club qualified for the Ryman One South play-offs for a second time. Defeat followed at Worthing in the semi-final.

Alfie May’s 49 goals in 65 Hythe appearances from September 2015 to December 2016 attracted the attention of League Two Doncaster Rovers, who signed him in January 2017. He played there for three years before moving to Cheltenham Town, in January 2020, and subsequently to Charlton Athletic in 2023.

Hythe parted company with Cook in January 2017 and appointed ex-Herne Bay manager Sam Denly in his place. The club finished in seventh place, six points outside the play-offs. The following season, 2017/8, saw Hythe unbeaten in the last 14 games but missing the play-offs on goal difference. Only drawing on the last day of the season was the difference, and seventh place again.

In 2018/9 Hythe again claimed seventh position but this time a distant eleven points from the play-offs. Zak Ansah scored 32 goals during the season and won the Ryman One South Golden Boot. A poor start to the following season resulted in the departure of Denly, to be replaced by Steve Watt in September 2019. After two Covid-hit seasons Steve Watt left during 2021-22 to be replaced by James Rogers who saw us safe from relegation but Steve returned at the start of this season to take the reins again.

Head to Head
Deres: 12
Draw: 8
Hythe: 12
Deres Goals: 53
Hythe Goals: 62

Last Meeting
30/09/2013 - Isthmian League South East
Deres 1
Hythe 0

Elsewhere in the League
All Kick Offs are 3.00pm unless stated

Saturday
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Billericay Town v Lewes
Canvey Island v Horsham
Carshalton Athletic v Hastings United
Haringey Borough v Folkestone Invicta
Hashtag United v Enfield Town
Hornchruch v Concord Rangers
Kingstonian v Cheshunt
Margate v Bognor Regis Town
Potters Bar Town v Dulwich Hamlet
Whitehawk v Cray Wanderers
Wingate & Finchley v Chatham Town

Pitching In Isthmian South-Central Division
Ashford Town (Middx) v Badshot Lea
Guernsey v Thatcham Town
Hanworth Villa v South Park (Reigate)
Hartley Wintney v Ascot United
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Met Police v Binfield
Raynes Park Vale v Marlow
Southall v Sutton Common Rovers
Uxbridge v Chertsey Town
Westfield v Northwood

Pitching In Isthmian North Division
Basildon United v Maldon & Tiptree
Brighlingsea Regent v Felxistowe & Walton United
Enfield v Witham Town
Gorleston v Bury Town
Heybridge Swifts v Bowers & Pitsea
Ipswich Wanderers v Lowestoft Town
Redbridge v Brentwood Town
Stowmarket Town v Wroxham
Walthamstow v New Salamis

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Broadbridge Heath v Three Bridges
Chichester City v Beckenham Town
Horndean v Ramsgate
Lancing v Cray Valley PM
Merstham v Burgess Hill Town
Phoenix Sports v Herne Bay
Sheppey United v Littlehampton Town
Sittingbourne v Sevenoaks Town