Somewhere between jimmygreaves, steveparsons and myself, there lies a jinx: I’m pretty sure none of us have witnessed many if any wins this season (come to think of it, I saw the win against Croydon towards the beginning of term). On the other hand, such talk is pure superstition and detracts from the real causes of yet another average performance (if only I had seen the apparent brilliance against Chipstead). Some of those causes have already been identified: some very odd selections, hurried passing, balls over the top, lack of tactical nous, lack of service to the front two, belated substitutions etc.

 

Sittingbourne won this game when they scored their second towards the end of the first half. Their first was a very well-taken corner powerfully headed into the back of the net by one of their tall centre-backs. The corner was taken short, passed back to the taker who then floated a beautiful cross directly onto the head of the incoming defender. Someone should have been picking him up, but even so, it is unlikely much could have been done about it.

 

Sittingbourne’s second, however, was down to poor defending. Pure and simple. Like the first, the second came courtesy of a corner, but this time the ball pin-balled around the area and was poked in when it should have been cleared.

 

That was pretty much the story of the first half but for a Pullie shot that clipped the bar on 7 minutes and a second attempt by the same player on 26 minutes after Dave Cory flicked a ball nicely on for Danny Tipple whose through-ball found Pullie bursting through. But his shot only found the solid Sittingbourne keeper well-positioned to save.

 

Whitstable hardly came out all guns blazing, but Seags made a double attacking substitution when he replaces Duffy and Tanner by Wisker and Jon Neal. Attacking, yes, but it took some time to work out who was then playing where. It looked like a 4-3-3 with Pullie dropping into the hole and Wisker at right mid-field. To be fair, this produced some better football and the Sittingbourne keeper was heard to shout “we’re falling apart”. Both subs made a big difference – Jon Neal, who I’ve given some stick about after his last spell with the club, looked like he has benefited from playing at clubs higher up the league: his positioning, passing and ball-holding play were pretty good on the whole and Wisker, despite making a couple of mistakes at least showed a willingness to chase the ball as well as put in the odd tackle. This is more than can be said for many other players.

 

Despite misplacing a few balls, the creative heart-beat on Saturday for me was Perona. True, some of his passing was too hurried and both he and Campbell were guilty of some wayward balls. But Perona made up for his mistakes by some clever distribution. I’m not convinced the same can be said of Campbell, who for me, still has something to prove.

 

Danny Tipple also came into his own when moved back to his usual position at left back. GS also looked more comfortable at right back – funnily enough, also his usual position. The highlight for me was a lovely attacking move by Tipple as he cut inside after his neat inside-flick that caused gasps from some sections of the crowd.

 

Sittingbourne showed their class, however, and scored their third after Tom Parker lost the ball in midfield. Sittingbourne’s powerful No.9 took advantage and slotted past the advancing Fewell. The final score did flatter a little, but across the park Sittingbourne were simply better than Whitstable.

 

There is clearly work to be done and despite the score, this was not the worst performance of the season. Sittingbourne actually looked pretty ordinary in the first 20 minutes, but after the Oystermen went two down and until the substitutions, they did not look like they wanted it.

 

Fortunately, many of the other results went our way too and things do not look as desperate as they otherwise might.