Hythe’s ‘over my dead body’ mentality is fuelling their survival push.

The Cannons moved five points clear of the Isthmian South East bottom three with goals from Tom Walmsley and Jacob Gilbert in a 2-0 win at Whitehawk on Saturday.

Victory moved them above the Hawks into 15th place and extended their unbeaten run to four matches, during which they’ve kept three clean sheets.

Player-boss James Rogers has made Hythe hard to beat and it’s that determination not to concede that has them closing in on safety with three matches remaining.

“I’ve been trying to instil this mentality, over my dead body will we concede, and they’ve really taken it on board,” said Rogers.

“Henry Newcombe made a few saves on Saturday and his all-round game has been strong, Ollie Gray, George Crimmen, Liam Smith and Nico Cotton were the back four at Whitehawk, and they’ve been brilliant, and Connor Cheek and George Sibley have done well when they’ve played.

“It’s not just the defence, the midfield and forwards are working hard to make sure we don’t concede as well.

“You look at Luca Woodhouse, who’s got some flair, but he’s getting back in our shape and working hard, Tom Walmsley’s working hard closing down, Riley Alford, they all are, and it’s starting to show.

“I thought we were well worth the win on Saturday.

“We were solid again, that’s our third clean sheet in four, and we created a few chances going forward.”

It was a crucial win for Hythe and one more should be enough to keep them up.

They host resurgent Sevenoaks on Saturday and visit play-off hopefuls Herne Bay on Easter Monday.

“If we’d lost at Whitehawk we’d only be two points above third-bottom, so it was a massive result,” said Rogers.

“The win gives us a five-point cushion and I think one more win from the last three games should secure our position.”

Walmsley deserved his goal after putting in another big shift, pouncing after an attempted clearance hit Gilbert and fell kindly.

Gilbert completed victory midway through the second half after collecting a pass from Alex Brown.

“Tom deserves his goal,” said Rogers. “He hasn’t had a lot of luck this season but he works really hard up front.

“Sometimes the way we play leaves him a little isolated, because we try and stay tight and not concede and pinch a goal here and there.

"That’s what we’ve had to do because you can’t go giving teams a leg up when you’re fighting relegation.

“The goal was a weight off Tom’s mind and hopefully he can relax in the last few games and score a couple more.

“Jacob’s goal was a good move, we’ve cut through them and he’s taken it well.

“He’d sat out a couple of games and came back in rejuvenated.

“He’s got energy in midfield, he gets about, and with me and Browny not as young as we used to be, he provides legs in there."