Whitstable Town FC

4 hours on the Motorway 1 WTFC 1
Chichester United FC 1 Whitstable Town 1.....Arriving at the ground with the clock nearly showing 4pm after lengthy delays and getting a tad lost trying to find an alternative route, Whitstable were understandably slow starting. ?We never started playing until the 2^nd half,? Town manager Marc Seager said, ? I spoke to their manager and to be fair he said if You?d like half an hour for your lads to stretch their legs and do their warm up I have no problem with that. After all it?s a friendly and we know the problems you had getting here, with Goodwood races on and the road closure?s even our own players were late arriving.? If only the ref had seen it the same way., Seager adding: ?The ref said, sorry but we start in five minutes as I need to pick my wife up from shopping." So it was no surprise when we went 1-0 down in the first half, I think most of the lads still felt as if they were on the coach.?

Jake Gess (right) celebrates

Town on a charge

After the break Town began to pass the ball, albeit in short busts, a little better. Constable and Prett swapped over and Constable?s aerial threat, coupled with the height of King unsettled the home side a couple of times as they started to defend deeper. The longer the match went on the more Town pressed. Andy Kier had a couple of half chances at corners, Constable headed just over the bar when well placed and Marcos Perona and Jake Gess both failed to test the keeper when shooting from distance. It was the later, young Gess who put a smile of Whitstable?s faces after his battling run when two or three of the home sided defenders mistimed their tackles, Gess tenaciously stuck to his task and prodded the ball low past the keeper from

Town press near the end

just inside the area. Whitstable had chances to win it as Chichester tired towards the end. ?Seager saying: ?It was not the best of games but a test for the lads not only because of the way they had to start the game but also the style of kick and rush football they played on a less than perfect surface, but we stuck at it and justifiably shared the game.?

Chichester United FC Reserves 2 Whitstable Town Reserves 3

Goals from Bertie Braidwood, Arron Knight and Harry (H) Gower set up a good win for Towns reserves. Stand-in player manager Ian Hossick saying: ?It was a decent enough game even though we were slow starting what with the delay in getting to the ground. To be fair the lads took it fairly easy and at no time did we look like losing the game.?