Erith & Belvedere 1 Whitstable Town 0

Sunday 19th March 2006

Promotion chasing Erith & Belvedere stretched their unbeaten streak to eleven games with a narrow and somewhat fortunate victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Whitstable Town yesterday, which moved the Deres up to second in the Kentish Observer League table, writes Thomas Hawes.

However, it was the visitors who started the better on a windy day at Park View Road, with former Bromley and Sevenoaks Town striker, Andy Constable’s shot thudding off the upright after 15 minutes.

But the home side were solid defensively and Whitstable knew they would have to work hard to win the game.

With seconds remaining in the first half, Whitstable’s Sam Prett was brought down inside the penalty area.

The referee awarded the Oystermen a penalty but player-manager Marc Seager saw his kick go terribly wide.

A hallmark of a good team is to win having not played particularly well and Erith secured what proved to be the only goal of the game after 66 minutes.

A free-kick eventually fell to former Margate striker Leon Braithwaite, who attempted an overhead kick from an acute angle, which was tipped away by Whitstable’s goalkeeper Mark Hickson, which prevented Anton Innocent tapping home from a yard out but the ball rolled kindly to Deres boss Wayne Brown, who sidefooted a rare goal past Hickson from six-yards out.

There was, however, enough time for Whitstable to hit the woodwork once more, but the Deres held on with relative ease and may have doubled their lead, but, as Deres fans know, their side just can’t win by a two goal margin.

Erith & Belvedere: Hall, Gibson, Murphy, Tague, Brown, Crawley, Martin, Innocent, Braithwaite, White, Nougher.