Steve Marshall

Town beat ?Bay? 2-1 (pictures)  Whitstable Town 2 Herne Bay 1  The 8^th minute goal prodded in by Steve Marshall owed much to the good work of young Stuart King who was convinced the ball had beaten ?Bay? keeper Sebastian Burton before Marshall claimed it. King, like all good strikers was desperate to claim the goal but rightly it was chalked up to his strike partner although young King, until the beginning of this season a Herne Bay player was fully praised by his teammates. At one nil up and their back to the wind Whitstable knocked the ball about with some style, the visitors at that stage were not in the game and the only debate in the crowd was how long before Town notched another. Both Marshall and King missed chances, Burton pulling off a great save from Town skipper

Part of the 367 crowd at the Belmont

Marco Perona who thought he had scored with a low drive.Herne Bay found a way back through an error by the seasons signing so; far young Josh Maine who instead of finding row z when under pressure from Simon Brown was dispossessed, only a wonderful save from Whitstable keeper Fewell kept out a thunderbolt shot from Richard Dimmock the visitor?s striker. This brief spell gave the visitors renewed hope and the remainder of the half was a much more even affair although Whitstable left the field at the interval the better side in most areas of the pitch.

Half Time: Whitstable Town 1 v Herne Bay 0

Herne Bay?s manager Jason Lillis must have ranted in the dressing rooms during the break as his side started with more intent. Whitstable however still had the upper edge with more chances although Whitstable keeper Fewell gradually had to play a greater part in the game. There were chances for both sides, Fewell saving again from the burly Dimmock, Burton at the other end saving from King, Perona and Jake Gess who all looked a threat.The games defining moment for the home side came in the 53^rd minute when Mickey Lane who had enjoyed a good first half prowling the sidelines latched onto a great ball down the wing. Lane took the ball in his stride hitting a curling cross first time tantalisingly swinging away from keeper Burton but inviting the onrushing Marshall who dived full length to score a gaol good enough to grace any Premiership club. Both Town supporters and the players roared their delight at the quality of the goal and for a while the visitors were really on the back foot. Dimmock however woke the

Whitstable's Josh Maine wins header

It was not to be as Whitstable played out the rest of the game to record a third Kent League win in a row with the prospect of a mouth-watering return fixture to look forward to in December.

Marcos Perona (shoots just wide)

Whitstable keeper Kevin Fewell never had an outright save to make throughout the game, which was down to his good positional play a solid defence in front of him. Rob Thomas when he came on after Josh took a bad knock was up to the pace of the game at once; he made a vital tackle towards the end as Guildford threw everyone forward.   ?I asked the boys to play a different way today, football that is not for the purist, on a pitch that looked good from the stands but believe me it was awful to play on. We wanted a result today and the lads delivered, I am very pleased that we never coneeded, just look at the list of results in the papers tomorrow, you won?t see many clean sheets in the F.A. Cup you mark my words.? Said Seager

Whitstable Towns Peter Albin looks ahead to the FA CUP games involving KL Clubs..

Just fourteen questions away from a Million!

Incredible to believe but there are only 14 rounds in the FA Cup competition from the ?500 pound prize extra-preliminary to the million pound final in May. Whitstable Town face the first question away from home at the Spectrum Sports Stadium against Guildford City. City are one of four Combined Counties Premier sides playing Kent League teams on Saturday afternoon in what has turned out to be an all Step 5 affair. Marc Seager and the squad should be optimistic about moving forward into the Preliminary round, although they have home advantage Guildford only finished 17th out of 21 teams last season and lost 3-1 away at Merstham last weekend. On paper, at least, an achievable target, just ask the audience!

Also away to CoCo Premier opposition are Deal Town who have been drawn at Ash United, an altogether different prospect as they finished in third spot last year in that league. That said, home advantage didn't help United last year as they drew with and then subsequently lost the replay at Leatherhead in the Preliminary round. Deal went out two rounds later, in the 2nd Qualifying round, at home against Southern League Premier side Hitchin Town. Having a bit of a tradition of cup runs I think the seasiders may come away with a draw and then get a result at home.

Kevin Fewll WTFC m.o.m.

Whitstable Town 1 Croydon 0? KL Premier Div 12^th August 2006

?It was the three points that mattered,? said Whitstable Town manager Marc Seager after the match: ? If you ask me was I happy with the outcome, the three points yes, but we can play better. The goal, which Marcos (Perona) scored after just three minutes, came from just the sort of plays we have been working on in training. Getting the ball wide; Mickey Lane did a great job, nice early cross into the danger area and Marcos was on hand to knock it in after we pressured their keeper. For the next 15/20 minutes we bossed the game, then for some reason we stood off; it gave them the chance to pressure and we were never comfortable again for the rest of the game. Kevin Fewll in goal had a great game and its performances like that underline why we wanted Kevin at the club, he was excellent today and the three points were down to some good defending and good positional play by our keeper.?

Sam Prett, who worked tirelessly up front throughout the game was unlucky on several occasions during the 90 minutes, he was just inches wide on more than one occasion and along with strike partner Stuart King, signed during the close season from Herne Bay, were both on their game. King will learn from the match, at times his natural goal scorers? instinct overrides the chance to lay off the simple ball and let others in better placed, but he will learn.