Chipstead 1

Hythe Town 1 By Martin Whybrow

KIERAN BYRNE apologised for a moment of madness that saw him sent off for kicking the ball away.

Byrne, a first-half sub for injured skipper Dave Cook, had already been booked for a lunge when he was shown a second yellow card after the break.

Mortified Byrne said sorry to his teammates and boss Scott Porter for leaving the side with 10 men.

Byrne's stupidity was one of a number of setbacks for Hythe so they did well to take a point at a Chipstead side who'd won their last three games.

Injury ruled out influential midfielder Nick Barnes while striker Brendon Cass was laid up with flu.

They could have done without Cook's hamstring injury so the last thing they needed was for Byrne to lose his head.

Town were the better team in the first half, starting brightly and giving the home side some tricky moments.

Gary Mickelborough replaced Cass, which meant Hythe were full of pace up front, with Taser Hasan and Kane Rice down the flanks. Chipstead were still trying to work out how to cope with this when Mickelborough struck the opening goal.

It came on eight minutes as he chased down a through ball.

He shrugged off the attentions of the two defenders and expertly slid the ball into the bottom left corner, out of the reach of keeper Steve Northwood.

Mickelborough had a good shout for a penalty when he appeared to be clipped as he cut through on goal again, put away by a perfectly-weighted pass from Ronnie Dolan.

Hythe's next threat was aerial, when Nick Reeves' powerful header from an Aaron Lacy throw worked Northwood.

It wasn't until almost the half-hour that Chipstead created their first chance.

Marcus Cassius, scourge of Hythe and many other opponents in his years in the Kent League, sent a sharp cross fizzing through the goalmouth but no one could connect.

Hythe keeper Dean Ruddy blocked well from close range when a corner ended up at the feet of Julien Thompson, 10 yards out.

Shortly after, Cook limped off to be replaced by Byrne.

Reeves is usually Hythe's most dangerous defender when he pushes up and again he connected well with a Lacy throw but Northwood was in the right position to take the header.

Byrne's dismissal was the cue for Chipstead to press forward and the equaliser came on 54 minutes.

Left-back Bruce Hogg broke free of two Hythe players and drove the ball low across goal where Hythe's Pat Kingwell smashed into the roof of his own net.

There was little Kingwell could have done and it should not detract from another commanding performance from the big central defender.

Both sides pressed for the win, with Hythe bringing on forward Craig Thompson for Rice.

Hythe were frustrated when the sub was denied a shot on goal by the referee's whistle when he should have played the advantage.

Chipstead's best chance to make it four wins out of four in the month came late on but right-back Owen Davies could only find the side-netting.

Hythe: Ruddy, Lacy, Walker, Kingwell, Reeves, Dolan, Cook (Byrne 25), Winfield, Hassan, Mickelborough, Rice (Thompson 70). Unused subs: Parkinson, Chandler, A Porter. Att: 109.