Stansfeld 1 Hythe Town 3
Southern Counties East Premier Division
Saturday 28th February 2026
The prospect of “the Great Escape” gained ground as the Cannons put up a superb second half performance to come back from a 1-0 half time deficit to comfortably win 3-1 at bottom of the table Stansfeld on Saturday afternoon.
Jerzy Krzyszka was only starter from the Challenge Cup game at Bearsted on Tuesday night who made the starting line-up.
As in the previous league game the game did not get off to the best of starts as on five minutes the ball hit the arm of Jason Fregene who was on the floor in the penalty area. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Up stepped Adam Wallis who placed his kick towards the right corner of the net but didn’t count on a magnificent diving save from Hythe keeper Dion-Curtis Henry that prevented Stansfeld taking the lead.
Hythe had their first attempt on nine minutes as Monty Saunders fired in from the right, but home keeper Cemal Osman pushed the ball wide and then a Jack Hanson cross found the head of Uko Uji whose effort went over the bar.
The Cannons weren’t playing their best football in the first half as George Porter turned and had a shot deflected wide. The resultant corner found Macey Malyon who slid the ball past Henry into the corner of the Hythe net. In a must win game for Hythe they were ineffective in front of goal during the first 45 minutes and at half-time there was concern from the good number who had travelled up from Reachfields.
However, for the second week running manager Andy Drury’s half-time talk had a massive impact and the Cannons came out fighting and within four minutes of the restart they were level as David Opoku put in a pinpoint ball from the right-hand side to captain Fregene who planted his shot into the corner of the home net.
The visitors continued to pile the pressure on the Stansfeld defence as Gil Carvalho had an effort that was palmed away by Osman but the Cannons were not to be denied and on 58 minutes a neat piece of work by Jerald Aboagye on the right hand wing eventually led to his a cross that deflected of the chest of Oji and past Osman to make it 2-1.
Hythe continued to press and Carvalho sent in a free kick from 20 yards that was well saved by Osman. A rare attack from the hosts followed with a free kick from Glen Bain that found the head of Louis Birch but the ball flew into the arms of Henry.
A curling shot from Robbie Dolan was tipped over the bar by Osman and then on 83 minutes Hythe sealed the three points as substitute fed the ball to Monty Saunders who buried the ball into the back of the Stansfeld net to make it 3-1 to the delight of the travelling support.
It was a win that reduced the gap from safety to six points and with continued performances like this there is a real chance that Hythe will avoid relegation.
Team: Dion-Curtis Henry, Jerald Aboagye, Will Dempsey, David Opoku (Jake McCarthy 88 mins), Jason Fregene, Jerzy Krzyszka, Monty Saunders, Robbie Dolan, Uko Oji (Richie Keil 84 mins), Jack Hanson (Blu Husthwaite 76 mins), Gil Carvalho. Subs Unused: Robbie Keil, Henry Newcombe.
Scorers: Stansfeld – Macey Malyon 37 mins. Hythe Town – Jason Fregene 49 mins, Uko Oji 58 mins,
Monty Saunders 84 mins.
Yellow Cards: Jason Fregene 5 mins, David Opoku 74 mins, Jack Hanson 77 mins
Attendance: TBA
