Norwegian Oyster

Both sides were keen to win this one before the game. But for Whitstable, it was crucial. Eight losses on the bounce, including two in the cups. Five goals for and a staggering 26 against. The daggers were out for the Manager (which is frankly ridiculous despite Town displaying their worst run in the Ryman, ever). But with a whole host of new faces, and injuries galore, it is hardly surprising that Peter Nott was having problems making his players gel. There had been a common denominator to Whitstable's losses, apparently. And that was James Peacock. He left the club before this 6 pointer, and Whitstable won. But to blame it all on PK, especally when he won the Oystergong against Hythe (that says it all), seems a little unfair. Wherever you are, good luck.

In any case, the stats looked slightly favourable for Whitstable prior to the game. The Predictostat had Town just shading the visitors by one percentage point, and despite both sides' recent form, the stats suggested a low-scoring game. As it turned out, the hosts nicked it by a goal to nil. Any odds over 5.88 would have been a value bet.

With PK gone, Lyall partnered Hawks at the back. Lloydy shuffled over to left back and the game saw the welcome return of Ash Ulph, this time at right back. Loanee Alex Brown paired up with Wisker in the middle of the park, flanked by Marvin on the right and Ryan Rook on the left. Up front, Simmo played the further forward, with Super Stu slightly deeper. This makes sense as Simmo has more pace than Stu although it is likely to affect Vahid's goal-tally. That said, Stuart has been banging them in from very close range, so no excuses for not adding to the tally.

The visitors played to a similar standard as Whitstable. They seem to have dropped their splendid white away kit in favour of Whitstable's (pretty horrible) yellow and blue. I'm struggling to think of a team that plays well in yellow. Any ideas anyone? Anyway, it was reassuring to see the visitors adopt the mantle of hoofing the ball without checking where fellow players might be found. That said, they also showed they were well drilled at times.

Wisker and Lyall came close in the first half, the former with a flying volley and the latter with his head. But there were no goals to be had in the first half. But at least we hadn't conceded; and we were finally kicking towards the dyke end in the first half. Why did that take so long to figure?

The next landmark, of course, was to avoid conceding at the start of the second half. And the Oystermen succeeded in so doing, despite losing Lyall to a serious looking injury in the first half. With Lloydy back into the centre of defence, GS acquitted himself excellently by heading clear off the line (how many times has he done that this season?).

But the standout moment came after some great play by Wisker that set up Rook who curled a beautiful shot past the visitors' keeper. It took a slight nick from a Hersham player en route, and I thought it was going to go wide, but it snuck in at the far post beyond the outstretched keeper. It was a deserved goal, and one that brought relief to players, fans and management alike. There was even some singing.

A good game continued thereafter. OK, there was the odd sloppy pass, but it was an enjoyable afternoon out. The ref missed a blatant foul when Rook (or was it Simmo?) was through one on one, and it actually should have been a red card. Marvin caused havoc nearly all day down the right hand side, and got a rapturous round of applause when subbed towards the end of the game. And Chalmers-Stevens must surely have put all the nay-sayers in their place by having an outstanding game between the sticks.

My guess is that the forum will now go fairly quiet for a while, until we lose our next game. And then the wingers can come out and have their go again. I do wonder whether this is a British tradition. I can say that as a Norwegian observer.

But this is no time for complacency. As noted before, a couple of years ago, Whitstable lost 14 games in a row punctuated by only two 1-1 draws. Something similar could happen again if we get complacent. It shall be really interesting to see what happens on Tuesday against Sittingbourne. We got hammered 5-1 at their place on 20th September in the Cup, and the stats favour the visitors. This is largely because of our recent tendency to ship goals and their tendency to keep it tight. It would be great to set the record straight.

You Reds!