Molesey 1-3 Hythe Town

May Massacres Mediocre Moles

This was a big six-pointer, with Hythe in 5th place and two points above Molesey before the game kicked off. It turned out to be a contest that Hythe were fully in control of from the start, due mainly to the stand-out skills of Hythe striker Alfie May.

With the first half kicking off, Hythe were attacking with the wind on their side, and had most of the chances. Early on Hythe’s right back Ben Wilson was causing problems down the right wing and putting crosses in. His first threat came on three minutes when down the right wing he fed striker Alfie May, who put in a useful cross, only for no one from Hythe to be there to finish off.

As Molesey were starting to get into the game on the quarter hour after early Hythe pressure, and beginning to get crosses in to the Hythe box, against the run of play Hythe took the lead on 16 minutes.

A cross came in from the left wing, resulting in a corner. This corner resulted in a powerful header going in from Craig Cloke

After Hythe continuing to look dangerous with Ben Wilson running on the right flank, Molesey did get a chance in the 21st minute with James McShane only managing a soft shot from a cross, which Joe Mant saved easily.

Just a minute later, Molesey’s best player of the day, Craig Lewington, had a dangerous looking free kick on the edge of the Hythe box, however it only resulted in a corner. He did create a scare however, when the ball went down the other end, and he fed a nervous backpass to Liam Allen, which was challenged by Hythe, however Allen managed to kick it out of danger, and get Molesey out of jail.

Molesey were being well led by Lewington, who was providing the motivation. They got another chance in the 33rd minute, with a Reis Stanislaus soft shot being easily saved. This followed some rare Molesey pressure, however it wasn’t to last, and Hythe were soon in control again, all the way to the break. It also didn’t help that Molesey couldn’t put three passes together today before giving the ball away to Hythe. It was a first half to be forgotten in terms of the passing.

The first half finished with Hythe leading 1-0, but there was a feeling that with the wind on Molesey’s side in the second half, they would be the team to control matters.

The second half started with Molesey showing an improvement in their passing. McShane had a shot on goal in the 47th minute, however he sliced it, with Mant getting a touch to it as it went out for a corner.

Five minutes into the second half and Molesey were now the dangerous team, capitalising from the wind.

Tempers were beginning to flare. On 58 minutes Lewington was shown a yellow card for his continual arguing and swearing at the referee and linesman. Finally referee Tristan Greaves lost his patience and gave Lewington a caution.

This allowed Hythe to take control again, and it wasn’t long until Hythe doubled their lead, from a counter attack; Alfie May curling into the net, across the penalty area, giving Liam Allen no chance. 2-0 Hythe.

In the 64th minute, right back Joe Pratley-Jones pointlessly got a yellow card, again for abuse at referee Greaves. With the right back swearing in his face, it was an easy decision for Greaves show the yellow card. Molesey’s lack of discipline was showing as Greaves was quickly losing patience with the abuse aimed at him.

Foul mouthed abuse was also coming from the Hythe dugout, aimed at referee Greaves and also the linesman. The linesman would continually have to remind the Hythe dugout that only two people were allowed to stand in the technical area, to which he would receive foul mouthed abuse, mainly from their first team coach Will Graham. But amazingly no caution was given to anyone in that dugout.

Molesey were starting to get their heads back together, and in the 70th minute captain Lewington got Molesey back into the game, with a shot from inside the box going into the bottom corner of the net.

There was a controversial decision from referee Greaves when in the 72nd minute Molesey’s Luke Elliott was judged to have handled, when he was protecting his face from a powerful shot. A strange decision from Greaves resulted in him giving Elliott a yellow card. Normally these decisions are a straight red for stopping a goal scoring opportunity, or there is no offence at all. Going half way appeared to look like Greaves wasn’t really sure of what to do, so decided to keep both teams happy.

In the 73rd minute Frankie Sawyer put away the resulting penalty to make it 3-1.

Four minutes later Reis Stanislaus had a chance to make it 3-2, but sliced to waste a good chance.

Hythe’s Alfie May continued to cause Molesey defensive problems with his dribbling and one-two passing, and in the closing stages Hythe were looking safe, and enjoying themselves with their skilful tiki-taka up front. Molesey were huffing and puffing, but Alfie May was regularly making the difference.

With Molesey well beaten, in the 93rd minute Lewington got sent off, again for dissent, shouting and swearing at the referee, who showed no hesitation in giving him his second yellow card of the day. It was a shame that Molesey’s best player had to let himself down with his mouthing off at the referee. Molesey will miss his services when he is suspended.

This will be something for manager Steve Webb to work on with Lewington, before his reputation for this behaviour starts to grow.

At the end of the day Hythe were much the better team, and had planned well for the second half in which they knew the wind would be against them.

The Moles go five points behind the last play off spot with five games to go. Getting that play off is now looking more challenging, although it’s not impossible. But with a likely away tie at Dorking if they were to reach the play offs, Molesey’s chances of success would not be highly rated.