What a bitter sweet fortnight for Rye Town.
On Saturday February 17, Town travelled to Hollington FC to play in the Quarter Final of the Hastings FA Intermediate Cup. Hollington, sitting 2nd place in the East Sussex Premier League and unbeaten this season, were always going to be a tough nut to crack.
And this proved to be the case, in a feisty encounter Town had four excellent chances to take the lead within the first 10 minutes, but this was not to be their day and the home side went on to take the lead with 66 minutes played and held on to a one goal victory.
Despite the defeat this was a good performance from Town and a great cup tie, Town’s man of the match was Sammy Foulkes. The match was sponsored by Quayside Cars.
Seven days later, the team travelled to Tilekiln to take on Ore Athletic in the league. Three minutes in from the kick off they found themselves a goal down, was this to be two losses on the bounce? Oh no, Town were not having any of it.
On 25 minutes Charlie Stevens pulled level and another 2 goals in the following 4 minutes saw them 3-1 up with a second goal from Stevens (penalty) and one from Chris Gould. In the 36th minute Ore saw red and had a player sent off.
In the second half, Ore were down to ten men and Gould hit his second goal of the game on 52 minutes, then Alfie Weller hit another 2 in two minutes, so on the hour Town were 6-1 to the good. During this bad tempered match the 67th minute saw Ore see red again and the team reduced down to nine players.
Town took total advantage of this and chalked up another four goals in the final 20 minutes with more goals from Gould, Stevens and Weller. The final score was a 10-1 victory for Town and a match that had a hatrick of hatricks, quite amazing. Town’s man of the match was Charlie Stevens and the match sponsors were Morfeys Removals Ltd.
On a sad note, this was the last game of the season for the popular Martin Brain who is off to the USA, the club wish him well and hope that he will be back to play for Rye next season. On a happier note Barnaby Osborne celebrated his birthday on Wednesday February 28.
This Saturday March 3, Town are away to Bexhill Town with kick off at 2:30pm in the Quarter Final of the Robertsbridge Intermediate Cup. The match sponsors for this game are Pikes Laundry Services Ltd.
Saturday March 10 finds Town at home to Bexhill AAC in the Quarter Final of the ESFL Premier Travel Challenge Cup with kick off at 2:30pm. The match sponsors are Rope Walk Cafe.
Photo: Micky Day