Hythe Town manager James Rogers instils 'over my dead body' mentality as Cannons take big step towards safety with victory at Whitehawk

Hythe’s ‘over my dead body’ mentality is fuelling their survival push.

The Cannons moved five points clear of the Isthmian South East bottom three with goals from Tom Walmsley and Jacob Gilbert in a 2-0 win at Whitehawk on Saturday.

Victory moved them above the Hawks into 15th place and extended their unbeaten run to four matches, during which they’ve kept three clean sheets.

Player-boss James Rogers has made Hythe hard to beat and it’s that determination not to concede that has them closing in on safety with three matches remaining.

“I’ve been trying to instil this mentality, over my dead body will we concede, and they’ve really taken it on board,” said Rogers.

“Henry Newcombe made a few saves on Saturday and his all-round game has been strong, Ollie Gray, George Crimmen, Liam Smith and Nico Cotton were the back four at Whitehawk, and they’ve been brilliant, and Connor Cheek and George Sibley have done well when they’ve played.

“It’s not just the defence, the midfield and forwards are working hard to make sure we don’t concede as well.

“You look at Luca Woodhouse, who’s got some flair, but he’s getting back in our shape and working hard, Tom Walmsley’s working hard closing down, Riley Alford, they all are, and it’s starting to show.

“I thought we were well worth the win on Saturday.

“We were solid again, that’s our third clean sheet in four, and we created a few chances going forward.”

It was a crucial win for Hythe and one more should be enough to keep them up.

They host resurgent Sevenoaks on Saturday and visit play-off hopefuls Herne Bay on Easter Monday.

“If we’d lost at Whitehawk we’d only be two points above third-bottom, so it was a massive result,” said Rogers.

“The win gives us a five-point cushion and I think