Last season’s play-off final couldn't be further from Steve Watt’s mind as Hythe prepare to meet Whitehawk in the FA Trophy.
The sides lock horns in a third-round tie at Reachfields on Saturday (3pm) for a place in the last 32. It will be their first meeting since the Isthmian South East play-off final at the end of April, which the Hawks won 1-0. “The past is the past - you can’t change it,” said Cannons boss Watt. “We’re quite similar but they’ve got a few new players, so it’ll be a different team and a different test. “I said on the night Whitehawk were the better team and deserved to go up. “What we need to do is try and make sure we’re the better team this time. “Nothing that happened that night will impact what’s going to happen on Saturday. “It’s a new test and new challenges for both teams and it’s a case of trying to work out those challenges and tests so the tie goes in your favour. “I’m just glad it’s at home.
That improves our chances and gives us more confidence. “It’s going to be a tough game for both sides. “Whoever wins will have earned the right. “We beat a higher-league team than Whitehawk in the last round (knocking out National League South Tonbridge on penalties) but that doesn’t make this any easier. “It will be just as tough, if not tougher, for different reasons. “We’ll approach the game differently to what we did against Tonbridge. “They’re the favourites, of course they are, but we’ll do everything we can to try and win the game. “Hopefully we get the rub of the green and get through to the last 32, which would be an unbelievable achievement.” Hythe, who had never been beyond the first round before this season, are missing 10-goal striker Johan Caney-Bryan.