Hythe Town are starting to bare their attacking teeth with the new season less than two weeks away.

Zak Ansah and Charlie Webster both scored hat-tricks as the Cannons hammered Crawley Down Gatwick 8-0 on Saturday.

There were also goals for Kieron Campbell and Jack Sammoutis while Ryan Palmer tormented the visitors all afternoon and laid on four assists.

Hythe did it all without Junior Aikhionbare, another of their summer signings, so Bostik South East defences have been warned.

Manager Sam Denly said: "It was good to get some good and we were excellent.

"They weren't the worst side in the world so it was good to come away with eight goals and a clean sheet. It was a good day all round.

"Attacking-wise, the front four or five were all outstanding in Palmer, Campbell, Ansah and Sammoutis. You'll do well to find better attacking options in the league this year.

"There's a lot of quality there. We play some really good football going forward and the finishing was excellent.

"In all departments, we've got quality. We've got pace and I'd like to think we're going to cause teams a lot of issues."

Denly has been working with a settled squad since the start of pre-season.

He said: "I wanted to get my business done early, which I did and now we can work on things.

"I still want to give everyone minutes but it's about gelling, which we're doing now.

"There are still a few places up for grabs but I've got a fairly good idea of my XI.

"It's about working on things in training and taking it into games, which we're doing.

"When the season starts, we know how we want to set up, we know how each other play and hopefully we can benefit from that."

Several players from Hythe's youth system were given a run-out off the bench against Crawley Down.

Denly said: "I'm trying to get synergy with Hythe Youth and in most of the games now I'm going to have a couple of lads from the under-18s and under-16s there - not playing them but to give them a bit of experience.

"It was 8-0 at the time so it gave me an opportunity to give them a few minutes, which was great for them.

"I want them to have an idea of what it's like to be involved at that level.

"We do want a youth structure within the club and important the lads see how professional it is."