Hollands & Blair 1 Hythe Town 0
Southern Counties East Premier Division
Saturday 31st January 2026
When you’re at the bottom of the table they say you never have any luck and that was the case in new manager, Andy Drury’s first game as the Cannons showed more grit but were sunk with a injury time goal as they went down 1-0 at Hollands & Blair on Saturday afternoon.
Drury made four changes to the starting line up with four of the five new signings going straight inp with Finlay Whitton coming in for Roarie Deacon, Callum Frith in for Jerzy Krzyszka, Olu Oluwatimilehin replacing Mo Kamara and Uko Uji in for Taurean Roberts. The other new signing Callum Davies was on the bench.
It was a bright start for the new look Cannons as they had an opportunity on three minutes. Gil Carvalho got the ball out to Whitton who fed fellow debutant Oji who found Carvalho following through, but his effort was cleared off the line by Charlie Weston preventing Hythe from taking an early lead.
The hosts had to wait until the 13th minute for their first meaningful effort as a cross from Callum Flynn found the head of Weston, but his attempt went wide of the target. There weren’t too many more chances during the half as the two defences dominated the play although Simon Kabamba shot wide and Blair could consider themselves unlucky as Ibrahim Akanbi saw an effort slam against the upright.
Hythe should have taken the lead on 55 minutes as captain Jason Fregene sent in a free kick from the middle of the park into Callender who laid the ball off to Carvahlo, but he sent his final effort wide of the target from close range. There were again limited chances for both sides with Blair’s Emmanuel Oluwasemo sending a long range over the bar.
Things were made very difficult for Hythe on 78 minutes as Will Dempsey received a second yellow card and they were forced to play the last twelve minutes with ten men. The sucker blow game a minute into stoppage time. Substitute Bobby Dunn got the ball and fed Flynn who rattled the ball against the underside of the bar and the referee’s assistant was right in line waved his flag to indicate the ball had crossed the line.
On the balance of play Hythe deserved a point but it was not to be, and they now need to put in a run of wins to have any chance to survive the drop.
Team: Henry Newcombe, Finlay Whitton, Will Dempsey, Folarin Awoleke, Jason Fregene, Callum Frith, Armani-Jordan Martin (Jerzy Krzyszka 79 mins), Olu Oluwatimilehin (Monty Saunders 69 mins), Steadman Callender, Uko Oji (Callum Morris 66 mins), Gil Carvalho. Subs Unused: Blu Husthwaite, Dan Kennedy.
Scorer: Hollands & Blair – Callum Flynn 90+1 mins.
Yellow Cards: Will Dempsey 26 & 78 mins (Red)
Attendance: 141
