During the morning I was a little concerned about the weather forecast for the afternoon – heavy rain – so had a look at the Hythe website and was pleased to see that they had a stand that could provide some shelter if needed. It looked like I was going to need this as I left Salisbury with the windscreen wipers on full blast. As I got closer to the Hampshire border the rain eased off and the sun came out again.
I first noticed the ground as I drove by a closed gate with an advertisement for the game. It didn’t look like you could park at the ground so I scouted around the local area for somewhere to park and ended up in a free shortstay carpark in the marina and walked 5minutes back to the ground from there.
The ground has a small clubhouse in one corner with a busy bar. There was one small stand behind the near goal and a ‘standard’ build stand on the far touchline. There were several signs dotted around with details of the opposition and prices but no one appeared to be collecting admission. At back of ground the pathway lead to a play park with only some trees to stop prying eyes watching the game from the swings. Just before kickoff it started to rain but this wasn’t heavy and soon stopped.
Hythe took the lead on 9 minutes. One of their players took the ball at pace down the right, pulling it back to beat his man before cutting in with a cross across the box. The first player in the middle missed ball but his team mate on the far post put a low shot in to the back of the net. Someone came round to collect the admission and sell the program – I got a “special discount” and only had to pay £3 (inc programme).
Five minutes later Verwood equalised. The ball was played into the middle and the Verwood player managed to beat the offside trap, drag the ball around the keeper and get it into the middle before smashing it into the net from 2cm out.
Verwood were more comfortable on the ball but couldn’t get much past the Hythe skipper who headed and cleared anything that came near his central defensive position. Hythe had a skilful player on the left side and he hit a cracking shot that hit the post from 25 yards out. The rest of their play wasn’t coming too much as they didn’t look for team mates in space and took the wrong options instead of keeping it simple. The coaching staff on the sidelines were furious at the way the game was going and the ‘hairdryer’ was expected at halftime. Even before the referee could blow the whistle, they were arguing with one of their strikers who ended up in the book for foul and abusive language at his own boss!
The Hythe players came out several minutes before Verwood but were slow to get started in the second half. On 60 minutes they had a real let off when Verwood hit the bar with a shot in the box following a corner that left the Hythe keeper stranded. Five minutes later and a little against the run of play, Hythe were awarded a penalty after an inexplicable handball in the box. Hythe took the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way to take a 2.1 lead.
Another five minutes later and it was 3.1 to the home team. Verwood took a free kick and launched it into the box. It was cleared away quickly and Hythe launched a counter attack down the left wing. Their left winger took it around 2 players but inside and smashed it into the far side netting inside the post – a superb goal. The game was all Hythe now – 2 minutes later and they had a similar chance as a player went one on one with the keeper from the left side but this time the shot hit the post and ball span away to be cleared.
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