Former Hythe player Alex Flisher has returned to Reachfields as the club’s new assistant manager.

Flisher, 31, was in the dugout for the first time on Saturday as the Cannons won 3-1 at East Grinstead in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.

He retired from playing a year ago after suffering a knee injury during pre-season training with Hythe.

Cannons boss Steve Watt had been looking for a new assistant since Darren Blackburn left this summer.

“I’m delighted to bring Flish back,” said Watt, who also captained Flisher at Maidstone.

“It’s a good story in terms of he had to finish his playing career with us and I’m just happy that he’s decided to come back and start another career with us with his coaching.

“I didn’t think he’d do it, because he’s a busy man with work and family, but the timing was right.

“I like good people to be involved in football.

“He’ll feel his way into the role - it’s something he’s not done before.

“I’m very hands-on so it’s not the case that he’s come in with a list of jobs as long as his arm.

“He took the warm-up on Saturday and I’m sure as we go on he’ll get more confident in the role and find his way of doing things.

“He’s someone who was quiet on the pitch as a player and off the pitch he was quiet at times in the dressing room but when he had stuff to say, people would always listen.

“After the career he’s had, it’s great to have him working with the young players we’ve got.

“One thing you can always say with Flish is no matter what he does, he’ll give you 110%.”

All the goals came in the second half as Hythe eased past East Grinstead, with Johan Caney-Bryan scoring twice and Brad Schafer on target for the second successive game.

The Cannons had beaten the same opponents 4-0 in their Isthmian South East opener a week earlier.

Watt warned it would be a difficult game but the Cannons had the measure of them again, setting up a home tie against Hanworth Villa in the First Qualifying Round on September 2.

“It was always going to be a tough tie,” said Watt.

“I thought we’d get the job done but you just thought would it be one of those days where we’ve beaten them 4-0 one week and they go and scrape a 1-0 win the next?

“I wasn’t just saying it for effect when I said it would be a difficult game, I was genuinely worried about the tie.

“Where we’d been so comfortable and dominant in the first game, you’re thinking this is a massive banana skin.

“As it was, the only difference between the two performances was we didn’t punish them in the first half like we did the week before.

“We came out in the second half and Johan scored two quick goals.

“They got a soft penalty, which probably was a penalty, but there was only one team going to score again and eventually we did.

“Going forward, I’m really pleased. It’s exactly how I wanted us to look.

“We’ve scored seven goals in two games, so it’s certainly an improvement on last season.

“Defensively, we’ve gone 180 minutes without conceding in open play so, it’s been a good couple of games.”

Hythe visit Merstham on Saturday (3pm), the Surrey club having moved across from Isthmian South Central.

Then it’s a Kent derby at home to Ashford on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm).

Watt said: “It’s two very tough games.

“Merstham are a bit of an unknown but they played Faversham in the FA Cup (losing 2-1), so we’ll tap in to some of the guys there to get a bit of information.

“Win, lose or draw, we’ll go into Monday’s game looking to win.

“Ashford are one of the promotion favourites when you look at their recruitment.

“I know Kevin (Watson, new Ashford boss) well.

“We’ve got a bit of an insight into what they’ll be like from playing against his Cray Valley side.

“They won’t be the same as they were at Cray Valley but they’ll have similarities.”