Whitstable Town FC

by Peter Albin: A full card of eleven fixtures this weekend includes Whitstable Town’s longest trip of the season down to Worthing on the south coast of West Sussex. A great couple of results this week, 4-0 at Ashford and 3-1 at Molesey, will have put our opponents in confident mood for Saturday afternoon.

A full card of eleven fixtures this weekend includes Whitstable Town’s longest trip of the season down to Worthing on the south coast of West Sussex. A great couple of results this week, 4-0 at Ashford and 3-1 at Molesey, will have put our opponents in confident mood for Saturday afternoon. So Town will need to be somewhere near their best to get any reward for their long journey. Points are there if we can get about them, Sittingbourne and Leatherhead have both already had success at Woodside Road. It’s only an hour and a half away and I know Marc and the team appreciate all the support we give them on their travels, be there for them this week if you can.

Worthing’s recent performance has pushed them into 5th spot. Cray’s win against Corinthian Casuals on Thursday means Whitstable play three of the current top five in the space of eight days, at Cray Wanderers (3rd) on Tuesday evening and home versus Kingstonian (4th) Saturday next. This league is so even we seem to have played ten top five sides already! In fact we know these next matches will be hard to get even a point from, but it’s also a fact that we can beat anybody on the day. When things just click on the field, we play some quite breathtaking football and more often than not, when we play better opposition. Fingers crossed, see you in Worthing.

Tooting & Mitcham, the league leaders, travel to our near neighbours, Sittingbourne, looking to maintain their record of no defeats away from home. The Brickies by contrast will be wanting to return to their early season home form after losing to Dover and Dulwich Hamlet in their last two home games. Still without a permanent manager the outcome is not likely to favour the home side in my opinion.

Dover Athletic continue their ‘Premier or bust’ offensive with a home match versus Corinthian-Casuals. Not that they have been entirely convincing at home with a won three, drawn one, lost one record, two of the wins by just a single goal margin. However, the Casuals are likely to help the Whites points conversion percentages with just one point from their last five away fixtures they look likely to fail on the day. Dover won this fixture last year, one-nil. Need I say more?

Kingstonian have a tough test in the shape of visitor’s, Walton & Hersham, that’s fourth at home to sixth. It must be said that the K’s have dropped off the pace a bit and they will be very keen to win at home, this their first home match since losing to Chatham at the end of last month. The Swans are a freshly assembled squad, since relegation last year, and are naturally improving as a team over time. This will be a great test of how far they have come on. It will all be down to work rate this one and I for one would not be surprised if the visitor’s pick up a fourth away win in to add to their unbeaten on the road record.

Whyteleafe, easy winners in the league cup Wednesday, are at home against Chatham Town. A fixture that holds no fear for Leafe as they accomplished the double over the same side last season. Whitstable lost at Whyteleafe on the third and with Chatham having a near identical playing record to the Reds the signs are that the home side will carry the day. But this is also the side which won at Dover and Kingstonian which means they have something in their locker, if they can just find it again in time for three o’clock?

Decent mid table scraps at Ashford Town and Dulwich Hamlet, who entertain Burgess Hill Town and Croydon Athletic respectively. That’s tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth all tripping each other up as the top of the table start to gap the rest. Having played Croydon and Dulwich recently I’d put my shirt on the home side taking all three points Saturday, while I think Ashford should be good for a point from Burgess Hill who lost in the cup against Whyteleafe midweek and to Kingstonian last weekend.

Down amongst the rest of the field we have a good contest between Leatherhead and Chipstead. In my eyes very evenly matched and, from what we saw at the Belmont, two nice footballing sides. Definitely one which might provide better entertainment than their league positions would suggest. Neither can really afford a draw which is therefore the likely outcome, hopefully for those witnessing the event a high scoring one.

Meanwhile, with an aggregate goal difference of minus thirty-six the Molesey v Walton Casuals game could provide goals a plenty. Naturally with scoring averages of just over and just under one goal per game that is unlikely. This one does have nil-nil written all over it.

On Sunday afternoon Cray Wanderers are playing at home and welcome Eastbourne Town to Hayes Lane. Currently showing as the worst placed of the newly promoted sides Eastbourne will need to find divine inspiration to improve their form, just a single win to count so far, and just a single point away from home for the south-coasters. Wanderers on the other hand are in the ascendancy and must be favourites to bag three more points. Great one to watch, like watching a fine surgeon open up his unconscious patient.