Whitstable Town FC

Erith Town 2 v Whitstable Town 0: KOL Group Cup  Town loose out on top spot?

Manager Marc Seager was upset at this side?s inability to secure top spot in the group, thereby guaranteeing a home draw against one of the other group winners either Herne Bay or Hythe away in the quarter finals.
?We should have done a lot better today but when you consider what a great run we have been on since October, we were due one poor game and if this is I out of the way with the Beckenham match at home next week, then so be it. I am not happy to loose, in fact never happy when Whitstable drop below the standards I have set, but I admit we did today. I am still a young manager and will make mistakes but I will learn from them. It would be easy to say what a poor ref we had today, and despite creating at least double the scoring chances Erith had, they scored two, I think had three chances, we just could not put the ball into the net. We hit the post, their keeper made some great saves and for me was man of the match and they kept nine men behind the ball and made it hard for us on a difficult pitch. The lads are not down, they know that as a team we all undreperformed, we will not let this blip detract us from improving the side and always trying to play good football."

Picture WTFC Gary Sayer one of five Whitstable players booked: For the first ten minutes the game was flat, no real action to break up the constant the stoppages in the game, which happened every couple of minutes throughout when the ball needed to be retrieved from the arrears outside the pitch which is surrounded by a running track. With no ball boys and no urgency to keep the game flowing, the entertainment level was bordering on sleep time when the home side scored in their first attack. The ball, delivered from the left flew across the face of Whitstable keeper Sam Mott?s goal, and was only half cleared by Whitstable?s defence then knocked back into a melee of players. Erith?s Danny Nichols prodding in from close range.

At one nil up, it seemed like job done as far as Erith were concerned, they seemed quite content to let Whitstable come at them until they were anywhere near the six yard box, pushing up and leaving Sam Prett, deployed as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation scraping around for a sniff at the ball Ten minutes after Erith?s goal Whitstable were on the receiving end of the first of many poor decision?s by referee Danielle Wyatt, he waved away any penalty protest after Aaron Knight was shoved over from behind when clearly in on goal, it was a very poor decision. This seemed to spur Whitstable on, in what turned out to be the games best move their midfield trio of Seager, Marcos Perona and Gary Ward, all combined with some neat quick passing to open up Erith?s defence. Perona?s shot was well saved by Chris Connelly. Minutes later Erith cleared a shot off the line, Seager?s free kick knocked away, Rob Thomas following up; blasted his shot just over Connelly?s crossbar. With the clock running down to the end of the first 45 minutes, Prett; with some great anticipation beat Erith?s back line, his snap shot evading Connelly?s fingertips but just clipping the outside of his upright. Knight then weaved his magic allowing Perona the space to fire in a rasping shot; Connelly was equal to it as Whitstable finished the half well on top but a goal behind.

Half Time: Erith Town 1 v Whitstable Town 0

Whitstable who have been scoring goals for fun these last few weeks came out with good intent, but an uncharacteristic mix up at the heart of their defence allowed Nichols to knock his second goal for Erith and put Whitstable on the back foot with the second half less than ten minutes old. Nichols then had a great chance to score his third, his raising shot well over Mott?s crossbar when he should have at least hit the target. 

Steve Marshall replaced Seager, then ten minutes later Prett made way for Andy Constable as Whitstable reverted to 4-4-2 and went in search of goals. Still they could not score, Knight shooting just wide after some neat football; minute?s later Marshall was bundled over when in a great shooting position. Constable was denied by Connelly, as was Marshall again. Whitstable then replaced Jake Gess with Alex Hossick as Whitstable still pressed but without any breaks in front of goal.

At the other end the home side offered little, save from one shot by Paul Gross which produced a great save from Mott they seemed content to let the ball run out of play at every opportunity, slowing the game whenever they could. Whilst none of these actions are outside of the laws of the game, the spirit in which it was played deteriorated the longer the match went on. The finicky ref Mr Wyatt did not help, he was prepared to let dangerous waist high tackles go un-punished by both sides but rushed in whenever a full blooded fair tackle occurred. During the 90 minutes Mr Wyatt somehow booked eight players, five from Whitstable and three from the home side; in what was never a dirty encounter. His performance was as mystifying as Whitstable?s

Team: Sam Mott: Gary Sayer: (capt) Rob Thomas: Michel Adcock Tom Parker: Jake Gess: Marcos Perona: Marc Seager: Gary Ward: Aaron Knight: Sam Prett:

Subs: Mark Lane: Andy Kier: Alex Hossick: Steve Marshall: Andy Constable:

Tony Rouse WTFC ? 2006