Kentish Express Ashford & District
Cannons feel the heat in heavy cup defeat
CLARKE STRIKES
Hythe were dumped out of the FA Cup by Cray Wanderers on Sunday.
The visitors travelled to Hayes Lane as underdogs to face Isthmian Premier opposition but this result was still a thrashing.
Eight days on from their 7-2 humiliation at Burgess Hill, the Cannons caved in again.
Hythe boss Sam Denly said: “We had chances in the first half, that’s the disappointing thing.
“They should have had a lad sent off at 1-0 and by their own admission, it was a red card and it could have been a different game. “But they’re a very good side, they played well and they were very clinical in front of goal.” With the temperature in excess of 30C, the home side made a strong start and scored first in the ninth minute.
Lee Lewis made a strong run and picked out Tom Murphy, whose shot from 20 yards kissed the right-hand post on its way in.
Hythe were still in the game at 1-0, with Tom Carlton having a good game in midfield, but Cray then doubled their lead six minutes before half-time. Lewis and Barney Williams combined to set up Murphy again and the result was the same with his sweet strike nestling in the top corner. It was game over when the Wands added a third goal in added time at the end of the first half.
This time Murphy helped create it, linking with Lewis and Freddie Parker before Joe Taylor lashed a shot into the bottom corner.
The second half was a more pedestrian affair but Hythe’s punishment wasn’t complete. Bradley Pritchard made it 4-0 with a neat finish from 12 yards and Taylor doubled his tally at the death to confirm Cray’s passage into the first qualifying round.
“The better side won,” Denly admitted.
“It was always going to be tough to go there and get a result but it was one we felt we could get.
“It was a mixture of poor defending and clinical finishing from them plus us not quite being at it in front of goal.”
Hythe: Nicholls, Cooper, Webster (Blewden
67mins), Kinnear (Capel 67mins), Adonis-Taylor, Rowe, Woollcott, Carlton, Collin, Okoh (Bartlett 80mins), Simpson. Subs not used: Fitchett,
Carney.
Attendance: 230. Kennington moved up to fifth place in the Division 1 table following a win and a draw over the Bank Holiday weekend.
On Monday Kennington were held 2-2 at Homelands by Greenways.
Goals for the home side from Gary Clarke and Charlie Owen were cancelled in the last 15 minutes through Tom Reardon and Simon Walton.
Clarke and Tom Scorer both grabbed two goals in Kennington’s 5-1 demolition of Rochester United on Saturday.
Kennington took the lead in the seventh minute when Clarke stabbed home following a corner and it was 2-0 after 15 minutes through a Scorer lob.
Craig Calvert drilled in a shot just before the half-hour mark and a minute later it was 4-0 when Scorer netted his second, cutting in from the left to smash home.
Clarke added his second in the 60th minute, with Callum Peck pulling one back for the hosts in the 63rd minute.