Tony Rickson Previews Hythe Town v Sittingbourne. Saturday 17th March

The games don’t get any easier for Sittingbourne as they meet serious play-off contenders for the second time in five days.

This time they travel down to the Kent coast to face an in-form Hythe Town side who have lost just once in the last 12 matches.

Sittingbourne, meanwhile, have been through a huge period of transition with several players leaving and injuries hitting quite a few of those who have stayed.

How different it all was when these teams last met, in September, as Bola Dawodu scored the only goal of the game with Sittingbourne beating Hythe 1-0.

The Brickies were at the height of their form then, relishing a run that took them up to second in Bostik League South.

Dawodu, out with an injury since a foul tackle in the match at Corinthian Casuals three weeks ago, got the winner against Hythe that day with just 10 minutes left as the visitors appealed unsuccessfully for offside.

Since then both clubs have changed managers with former Herne Bay boss Sam Denly taking over at Hythe and Nick Davis replaced at Sittingbourne by Aslan Odev, at least until the end of the season.

It’s been a tough time for Odev, having to plug gaps with young players in a league where experience is always a key factor.

Sittingbourne were last in action on Tuesday evening when Walton Casuals, another club with serious promotion ambitions, went home with a

2-0 win.

They had to wait until the second half for their goals – one from a penalty and one from a pre-planned near-post corner – as Sittingbourne defended stubbornly on the night.

New captain Chris Webber, the fifth Sittingbourne player to wear the armband this season after Ben Gorham, John Coker, Miles Cornwell and Ben Davisson, switched to centre-half for the game and set up a solid barrier with teenage prospect Lex Allan.

Both Webber and leading scorer Kane Rowland have played more than 40 games for Sittingbourne already this season and lead the way for loyalty, consistency and sheer hard graft.

While Sittingbourne were making the long journey home from Guernsey last Saturday after a 3-0 defeat, Hythe Town were enjoying one of their best wins of the season, 2-1 against fellow play-off contenders Cray Wanderers.

A Hythe team containing former Sittingbourne players Sal Kisitu and Ryan Johnson had to play with 10 men for more than half the game but still came out on top.