Hythe Town 3 Rams 2

The first game of 2012 saw the Rams travel to the Reachfields Stadium to face Kent rivals and Ryman new-boys Hythe Town, and with the game without score at the interval, 5 goals in the 2nd half saw the home side take all the points when a draw might have been a fairer result.

A fairly even contest for the first 45 minutes, well score-wise anyway, although the Rams made a change with Dean Grant replacing the injured Pascal Ebigbo. Hythe took the lead 5 minuted from the restart when Kane Rice tried a speculative shot from the edge of the area, and although Steve O’Brien got out of the way the strike beat Danny Twyman at the far post. The Rams equalised just after the hour mark when Ben Laslett put the ball into the danger zone over the ‘keeper and defence, and it found its way into the net. The Rams took the lead 3 minutes when Gareth Cornhill coverted from the penalty spot, however Hythe equalised 5 minutes later when Cornhill’s foul in the Rams’ area allowed Dave Cook to drive a penalty just inside Twyman’s right hand upright (although the ‘keeper went the right way and almost collected the ball). Midfielder Jordan Cheadle was replaced on his debut by Joe Taylor, who took up position alongside Ian Pulman as the Rams changed to 2 up front. Both sides continued to make chances, and the match continued on a afairly even basis, until the 75th minute when sub Brendan Cass got past Luke Wheatley just inside the area and then slotted coolly past the advancing Twyman.

 Attendance 309

Rams: Danny Twyman, Gareth Cornhill, Peter Wedgeworth, Luke Wheatley, Joe Dolan, Ben Laslett, Pascal Ebigbo (Dean Grant), Liam Quinn (c), Ian Pulman, Jordan Cheadle (Joe Taylor), Steve O’Brien. Unused subs: James Gregory,  Ollie Gray, Tom Chapman.