Former Ashford United assistant manager Dean Beckwith returns to football as a player with Hythe Town

Former Ashford assistant manager Dean Beckwith has made a playing return with Hythe.

Beckwith, 41, made his debut in the Cannons’ 2-0 Isthmian South East win over AFC Croydon on Saturday.

The former Gillingham centre-back left Ashford two weeks ago following Danny Kedwell’s departure as manager.

He’s secured a swift return to football, however, making an instant impact on Cannons boss Nick Davis.

“Dean works with my assistant manager, Damien Hopkins, so it’s been on the cards,” said Davis.

“He played 90 minutes for Punjab last Tuesday night, so it’s quite a lot of football in a short space of time where he’s in 40s now.

“But he’s that calming influence at the back, with his communication and how he organises people.

“He played 25-odd games for Chatham last year, so he’s kept himself fit. He’s fitted in really well.”

Another new signing made an impression against Croydon, with former Millwall academy player Lewis White scoring on his debut.

He added to Vance Bola’s goal as Hythe boosted their survival hopes by ending a run of seven straight defeats.

White was with National League South Worthing last season and has also had spells with Welling, Carshalton and Dulwich.

Davis said: “He started off a little slow, I’m not going to lie, but then he turned it on and we saw a couple of bits of magic.

“He was put in one-on-one by Anthony Adesite and it’s a great finish. He was well worth a goal on his debut.

“He hasn’t played loads of football lately, so we had to try and manage him. He came off with 15/20 minutes to go.

“We played him in the No.10 role but he can play in a couple of positions.

“Hopefully he’ll give us that extra bit going forward to help us score the goals we need to stay up.”

Hythe were missing five regulars