An attacking formation by Munday’s Oystermen coupled with a new-found ability to pass the ball (at one point, we counted 6 consecutive passes) ensured an ultimately comfortable win for the home side in this ‘six-pointer’. Munday fielded a fluid 1-2-4-1-2 formation with Vahid and Pulman up front and Cory in the hole. This left Parker and Gooding in the middle of the park and the rest of the line-up as before, GS sweeping up imperiously at the back as per usual.Whitstable played some good possession football in the first ten minutes. Chipstead’s Left winger, Freeman, proved tricky and was their main attacking outlet in the first half. On 17 minutes, he drilled a low cross infront of Fewell, but two Chipstead players failed to connect. The game then went quiet for 20 minutes although Whitstable largely managed to keep hold of the ball. With 8 minutes to go in the first half, they actually put four passes together with GS as the main anchor-man in the move. Although the through ball to Pulman saw him offside, it was an encouraging development (even if worrying to comment on this ‘success’!). 


 
 
Freeman managed to lose Cornhill with five minutes to go as the youngster slipped, but this time Freeman’s cross let him down. Shortly after, Gooding combined well with Vahid, who set up Cory, but the referee saw a foul inside the penalty area which cut the move short.

 

The home side marginally shaded an even first half devoid of much action.

Although the visitors came out of the blocks the quicker, the Oystermen eventually took control of the second half and richly deserved the three points. Some eight minutes into the game saw a shot from White go just wide after Dolton was beaten for pace at left wing back. But as the game progressed both Vahid and Pulman seemed to grow in stature. Vahid’s presence in the penalty area on 58 minutes ensured the ball fell to Cornhill who had drifted inside – but the shot from the outside of his right boot narrowly missed the upright. 




 
Three minutes later, Vahid beat the last defender to the byline and crossed superbly for Gooding, past the stranded Chipstead keeper and although Clint had been bossing the middle of the park well, he contrived to miss an open goal as the cross bounced off him and wide.



 


 

Vahid was unfortunate to see his goal disallowed on 65 minutes after a hard-working shift and two minutes later, the team put six passes together in one combination! Things were really looking up! Cornhill threatened down the right combining well with Vahid closely followed by an ‘air’ bicycle kick from the former Deal striker who was putting in the best work-rate of his Whitstable career.

 

Whitstable had also worked out the threat caused by Freeman as exemplified by Cornhill who closed him down as soon as the ball came near him and thereby neutralising the threat. On 77 minutes Cornhill came close again after some fantastic work by Pulman and a minute later Vahid somehow managed to forget to shoot whilst one on one only for the eventual rebound to fall to Gooding who blasted over.

With seven minutes on the clock, Baines fired straight at the keeper from a Cornhill corner (which had been great all game), and with four minutes to go Sayer swept up fantastically as Chipstead threatened to pierce the Whitstable defence on the counter.

The deadlock was finally broken by the prodigal and prodigious Pulman who secured three points three minutes from time capping a star performance with an individually crafted effort to the delight of the home fans.

 

Having learned from previous lapses of attention, the back four put their concentration caps on, and with a minute to go, Sayer made the Chipstead defence take note with a ferocious tackle that put paid to any Chipstead self-belief. This was a good solid performance that improved as the game went on and the points were deserved.