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Hythe Town manager Paul Fisk expects VCD Athletic to pose a big danger to his side’s five-game winning streak when they meet at Reachfields on Saturday.
Town won 1-0 at Oakwood earlier in the Kent League campaign, before losing 3-0 in an FA Cup replay and Fisk rates the Crayford-based team as the best he’s seen so far this season.
Fisk said: "VCD are definitely the best side we’ve played all year.
"Their early season form is the reason for their league position (eighth) but with the amount of games they have left, they could easily be challenging at the top come the end of the season.
"We know the game on Saturday will be a tough one but we are confident of getting the right result.
"We played well against Norton in our last game and with a couple of players hopefully coming into the squad, we’ll be even stronger."
Dale Skelton and Ben Sly are the expected returnees and injury-plagued striker Buster Smissen should also be involved ahead of his rearranged operation next week.
"Buster will probably do some training this week and feature in some capacity at the weekend, as he did against Norton," added Fisk.
"We’d love to have him back fully fit but with his operation imminent our search continues to find a forward to replace him."