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19th October 2006 By JAMES BROWN Hythe Town 3 Faversham Town 0 MEN against boys - a tired, old football cliche that has little or nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with a player's state of mind as he goes into battle because, make no mistake, our national sport is all about battles. You must win the battle in that all-important first tackle, win the battle with your opposite number and then win the team battle that brings those three precious points. For all the trendy talk about the beautiful game will not help you when you pitch up at places like Reachfields on a wet October night in a brass-tacks Kent League clash. You have to show hunger, passion and desire. You have to show that you are not afraid to put your foot in where it hurts. You have to roll up your sleeves, stand tall and battle. In short, you have to be a man. So there could be only one outcome on Tuesday night when Faversham Town produced a performance as limp as Graham Norton's wrist in a Brighton nail bar. Faversham Town were spanked. They were spanked on a night when they could have returned to the Premier Division summit against a Hythe Town side who must have wondered how on earth the visitors were anywhere near the top. Needless to say, boss Terry Cordice was not a happy man, describing the performance as every bit as bad as the nightmare 4-0 FA Vase exit to Eastbourne United last month. He said: "I told the players that for the first 15 minutes you have to battle, you can't play football. You have to defend as if your life depends on it and win your personal battles. "I know Hythe of old and it's always the same. They bombard you early on and that's how they get on top of sides. "If we could have weathered that I think they would have run out of ideas and we could have got into the game. "So we came here with a gameplan but then gave away silly goals. We started very poorly. "They were sharper all over the pitch. They were quicker to the ball, basically they wanted it more when the going got tough. "We needed to weather the storm and get into the game but that never happened. In the end it could have been seven or eight. "We just didn't turn up. But we'll sort the boys out in training and look ahead to Sporting Bengal on Saturday and go again but we need to be a lot better than tonight. "This was as bad as Eastbourne away in the Vase. When we are good we are very good, but when we are bad we are very bad." Substitute Brad Maguire capped a miserable night for the Lilywhites when he was red carded for a handball on the line just two minutes from time. One wag reckoned an early bath was a small price to pay to be freed from the purgatory of a game that was over by half-time with Hythe already three goals to the good. Steve Aslett is a decent ball player in midfield and he looked unruffled as Hythe snapped at his heels during a busy opening. He even found space for a shot that flew well over in the third minute. But his decision to buy a few seconds by nudging the ball away from an opponent after the referee's whistle for a free-kick led to a yellow card and then Hythe cashed in with a bizarre opener. Dan Fisk delivered a high ball into the box which goalkeeper Tim Holmes did not see until it bounced once in the penalty box and then off the cross bar before falling to the right where John Walker won the race to score. Holmes later complained of losing the ball in the floodlights but it was more like rabbits caught in headlights as Town froze again on 20 minutes when Lee Winfield's corner picked out Roy Godden at the near post and he scored with a free header. Godden sent another header wide just two minutes later before Buster Smissen came within a couple of inches of goal number three after lobbing Holmes. Smissen then lost his footing but still reeled off a shot that flew wide before he was gifted the third goal on 37 minutes. Chunky Hythe skipper Martin Chandler sent in a speculative shot from 30 yards that Holmes allowed to bounce off his shins and Smissen followed up to score. Hythe eased up after the break but still proceeded to hit the woodwork no fewer than FOUR times. Godden was first up just two minutes in, Dale Skelton's cross shot suffered the same fate on 75 minutes before sub Damien Abel, who looked a mile offside, saw his right-foot effort denied by a lick of paint. That chance with just seven minutes to go set up a harrowing finale with Maguire falling on his sword with a handball to prevent a certain goal from Abel. Winfield sent the resultant penalty smacking against an upright to leave a final score that flattered Town. Maybe it should have read: Men 3 Boys 0. Town's Top Man: Mark Smith - the unused sub had to sit and suffer like the rest of us Tim Holmes 4, Wayne Farrell 5, Michael Seager 4, Wes Hammond 6, James Holder 5, Julian Beal 6, Dave Hockley 5, Steve Aslett 5, Graham Taylor 6, Andy Martin 6, Kris Parker 6. Substitutes: Curtis Farrell (for Seager, 45) 4, Brad Maguire (for Aslett, 62) 5, Richard Gamble (for Holder, 67) 5.
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