Hythe Town manager Ira Jackson says performance in 2-1 defeat by Whitstable shows they are moving in the right direction

Ira Jackson took plenty of encouragement from Hythe’s display against Whitstable on Sunday.

The Cannons lost 2-1 to their high-flying opponents but boss Jackson saw the performance as further evidence his young side are on the right track.

A big crowd of 450 - boosted by the Southern Counties East League Premier Division’s groundhopper weekend - saw Ashdon Day head Whitstable in front just after half-time.

The Cannons hit back immediately through Steadman Callender’s first goal for the club - a lovely header - but a mistake was punished as Mikey Dalton scored the winner.

“It was a great performance minus a mistake or two,” said Jackson.

“I can’t fault the boys for the performance.

“They did everything we wanted them to do.

“Second half, we got a little bit leggy and sat a little bit deeper and they bombarded our goal but we dealt with most of it. It was just one mistake that undid it at the end.

“But to be able to perform like that, if we can build on that and improve on that, it was a good sign of the progress that’s within the squad and where we want to get to.

“It was another game where we were without players but it was closer to the first XI.

“A draw was probably fair in terms of a result but football isn’t fair.

“A game is won on moments and we gave them one and they took the other, so they came out worthy winners.

“It was always going to be difficult but we can take heart from the performance.

“I wish we could have scored more but we have to take the incremental progress that came in this game.

“Everybody stuck together, everybody stuck to the structure, we played some good football at times, we scored a good goal but still those fine margins at the moment we’re not getting any let-up on.”

Injuries are easing,