Cowes Sports comfortably beat Hythe & Dibden away by a 2-goal margin in the Wessex Premier Division on Saturday afternoon (28th December).
The Yachtsmen were the only Isle of Wight side with a competitive fixture on Saturday, with Vics and Port having faced off on Boxing Day.
The game began as an end-to-end battle, with the soft ground making it hard for both sides to string passes together. The 1st clear chance fell to Hythe in the 19th minute, with Cowes keeper Ed Hatt forced into a good reaction save. Centre forward Jordan Browne then had a good scoring opportunity for the Yachtsmen but headed at Hythe keeper Deacon.
The Yachtsmen appeared dominant towards the end of the 1st half, with Jake Wright shooting over the crossbar, following which Captain John McKie was gifted a short free kick from the Hythe keeper, which he shot wide. The half ended with the home side’s defence under considerable pressure, but the Cowes forward line unable to come up with the final product.
Half time: Hythe & Dibden 0-0 Cowes Sports
The deadlock was broken in the 2nd minute of the 2nd half when a deflected shot from John Mckie looped over Deacon and into the back of the Hythe goal (0-1).
4 minutes later, captain McKie was unlucky not to have won a penalty when brought down, but the linesman ruled offside.
Cap’n John then doubled the Yachtsmen’s lead in the 57th minute after he had been fouled in the penalty area for a 2nd time, dispatching the resulting spot kick into the right side of the goal after sending Deacon the wrong way (0-2).
Defender Callum Chase gifted Hythe a scoring opportunity in the 66th minute with a foul on the edge of the penalty area, which was sent straight at the Cowes wall.
The home side then began to lose their discipline with both managers cautioned for dissent. H&D’s best chance came 10 minutes from full time with a header flashing past the upright from the 6-yard box.
However, Hythe were again undone by poor discipline, finishing the game with 10 men after a sinbinning, and the Yachtsmen comfortably held out in the final minutes of the fixture.
Full time: Hythe & Dibden 0-2 Cowes Sports
Cowes Sports: Hatt, Hughes, Mumford, Chase, Oatley, Phillips, Wright (McFarlane ’70), Carter-Knight (Dempsey ’84), Browne (Conway ’78), McKie (c) (Tout-Walters ’59), Marsek (Jackman ’70)
After the game, Cowes co-manager Ian Potts said:
“I was very happy with the performance on a wet, poor state pitch. The 1st half was even, but in the 2nd half the lads grew in confidence.
“I’m really happy with the goals; we defended solidly. All the subs that came on did a good job.
“It was a good 3 points against a decent team who are struggling near the bottom but fighting for their lives.”
Victory for the Yachtsmen sees Cowes rise to 11th place in the Wessex Premier with 25 points from 20 games.
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