Whitstable Town FC

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"Oystermen' through to cup final after extra time Constable penalty

'Whitstable into 2nd cup final' On a bitterly cold evening Whitstable Town travelled to Hythe Town for the 2nd leg of the Kent League Cup Semi Final. After the two sides had drawn 2-2 at The Belmont in the first enounter this was always going to be a close game.   The visitors playing in their yellow shirts started at good tempo with Alex Hossick hitting the bar in the third minute only for Marlon Button to blaze the rebound over the bar.   Button redeemed himself on seven minutes however when he curled an exquisite shot beyond home goalkeeper Dave Wietecha which went into the net of the post.   After a good twenty minutes from the away side it was Hythe who forced their way back into the game and after missing the game at Croydon on Saturday goalkeeper Kevin Fewell made a good double save to keep the score at 1-0.   Stuart King also had a good chance when after getting into the box he blazed his shot high and wide. The score remained 1-0 until the half time whistle.   Only four minutes had elapsed when the home side netted their equalizer when Mike Smissen netted his 16th goal of the season after some poor defending.   Hythe seemed the more likely side to get a winner at this point with Lee Winfield and Roy Godden always causing a threat. Andy Constable for Whitstable also came close only to be thwarted by Wietecha. With no further goals an extra thirty minutes were required.   In the first period Hythe had a goal ruled out for offside while Rob Thomas came close to scoring his first Whitstable goal when his towering header was cleared off the line.   The breakthrough came in the 110th minute when substitute John Akinde was upended by Wieteicha which resulted in a penalty and a yellow card for the keeper. From the spot big Andy Constable cooly sent the keeper the wrong way and the Oystermen had moved into their second final where they will play the winners of Herne Bay or Thamesmead. Town's local rivals lead 2-0 from the first leg.   WHITSTABLE 1. Fewell 2. Adcock 3. Gess 4. Thomas 5. Ohakam 6. Hossick 7. Martin 8. Perona  9. King 10. Constable 11. Button Subs Used Akinde, Strouts Keir Unused French, Lane Attendance 175 Picture: Left Simon Halsy with manager Marc Seager: The smiles say it all. WTFC coach Simon Halsey with manager Marc Seager who won throught to the clubs 2nd cup final in Seager's first full season in management. Seager described his reactions after the game, "Thrilled and delighted for the club, the players all the supporters and my staff, it was a tough game, but then we always knew it would be, Hythe are very good side and we came here to do a job. Simon and I looked at the pitch just before the kick-off and changed our game plan and we were delighted with the way we started and after a flat second forty five minutes we came on stronger the longer the extra time went on.We were always confident of scoring, but we did put ourselves under unnecessary pressure by giving away too many free kicks, but in the end we got the result we went down for."  Halsey saying he was "Over the moon, this is beyond our wildest dreams we knew we had a very good squad of players and at this late stage of the season I think people are finally sitting up and taking notice. You don't get into two cup finals remain unbeaten in 23 league and all the cup matches we have played without being a good side. Fair play to the players they are the ones who have performed, and the club who have backed Marc his staff and players to the hilt. Today you could see we have the league's best supporters, who once again were superb and I am looking forward to a couple of good days out"  Per Laleng: for all the pictures: see his website here: http://www.theimagefile.com/web/perlaleng

 

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