The league is our priority, inssists Whitstable boss Peter Nott

Thursday 10th March 2011

WHITSTABLE TOWN manager Peter Nott says he wants his side to forget all about their midweek thrashing at Dartford in the Kent Senior Cup when they lock horns with big-spending Whitehawk on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Oystermen were outclassed by the Blue Square Bet South giants, losing 6-1 at a sparse Princes Park, in the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Cup last Tuesday and Nott urges his side to bounce back to continue their impressive league form.

Whitstable have collected 13 points from Nott’s eight games in charge of the club and caretaker manager Steve Nolan (who has stayed on as Nott’s number two) bagged 8 points from five games. Former boss, Mark Lane, now goalkeeper coach at Thamesmead Town, picked up 12 points from the first 19 games of the season.

Nott said: “The form that we’ve experienced is top six, top seven, but we’ve just got to get back on that now.

“The league is our focus, there’s no doubt about that and we’ve just have to keep that run going.

“We’ve had back-to-back wins for the first time this season and if we can just wipe this (defeat at Dartford) out of our system and get a good (training) session in Thursday night and we need to be at our best on Saturday because Whitehawk are the form team in the league without a doubt, big spending, top scoring.

“We got a draw down there earlier on in the season but we need to get a result. If we can get back to the way we’ve been playing, I’ve got every confidence we will get a result.

“We’ve been lucky, we’ve been able to keep a settled side and I think we need to get back to that side and go again on Saturday.”

Whitstable must be firing on all cylinders next Tuesday as fellow strugglers Whyteleafe visit Belmont Road - a massive six-pointer and victory over the Surrey side will do the Kent club the power of good.

Whitstable are presently in 18th place in the Ryman League Division One South, whilst Whyteleafe are one place lower, level on 33 points, although both clubs are presently six points above the drop zone following Corinthian-Casuals’ draw in midweek.

Nott said: “There all crucial in our situation to be honest. Ten games left now, we’ve just got to keep pressing on, picking up points in all the games. We all know the games are virtually important.

“We’ve got a tough run of fixtures, we run into the likes of Whitehawk, Leatherhead, we’ve got a lot of the top teams to play yet and we’ve also got a lot of the bottom teams so it’s important we keep picking up points against all the top teams and that we’re beating the bottom teams as well.”

Visit Whitstable Town’s website: www.whitstabletownfc.co.uk

Whitstable Town v Whitehawk

Ryman League Division One South

Saturday 12th March 2011

Kick Off 3:00pm

At The Belmont, Belmont Road, Whitstable, Kent CT5 1QP