Wealdstone 5-1 Whitstable Town - We've been a lot better than three Step Three clubs but today was one step too far as our great FA Cup journey comes to an end, admits a proud Whitstable Town manager Jamie Coyle

Wealdstone 5 – 1 Whitstable Town
Location	Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 6JQ
Kickoff	11/10/2025 15:00

WEALDSTONE  5-1  WHITSTABLE TOWN
The Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round
Saturday 11 October 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Grosvenor Vale

WHITSTABLE TOWN manager Jamie Coyle says he’s feeling proud of his players’ after their great journey in The FA Cup was ended by a brilliant Wealdstone side.

The Oystermen arrived at Grosvenor Vale having experienced their longest FA Cup campaign in their history, beating three higher league sides enroute to the Fourth and final Qualifying Round – but Wealdstone were just too good and there was no chance of another cup shock.

Whitstable Town thrashed Lingfield 7-2 in front of only 66 fans in an Extra Preliminary Round trip on Saturday 2 August, before recording their record FA Cup win with a 9-0 success away to Edgware & Kingsbury, not far from here.

Last season’s FA Vase winners then stunned Dulwich Hamlet (3-2) away at Champion Hill with a statement win and then beat another Isthmian League Premier Division outfit in Chichester City (1-0 away, after a 1-1 draw at home), before beating Southern League Premier South side Hungerford Town 2-0 at The Belmont in the last round two weeks ago.

Wealdstone went into this tie sitting in tenth-place in the Enterprise National League table with 19 points (five wins, four draws and five defeats) from their 14 games, just three points adrift of the seventh-placed play-off zone.

There were 90 teams separating the fifth-tier Stones and a Whitstable Town side in ninth-place in the ninth-tier Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table (19 points, six wins, one draw and two defeats) and the gulf in class was clearly evident during a first-half humiliation.

Sam Cox’s side opened the floodgates after only 186 seconds through Kenyan striker Micah Obiero, 24, who then doubled the home side’s lead with his second audacious back-heal, as Whitstable Town’s defence were ripped to shreds.

Wealdstone’s holding midfielder, Omar Mussa, 25, scored a third, before striker Oluefela Olomola scored twice as Wealdstone found themselves 5-0 up inside the opening 39 minutes.

Wealdstone were on course of scoring at least 12 at this point but Coyle pulled off a tactical masterstroke at the interval and his side showed more desire and put in a vastly-improved second half performance to prevent that happening.

Whitstable Town striker Dean Grant, 35, clinically scored his seventh goal of the season early in the second half, to bring cheer to the 260 fans that made the trip up from the Kent coast.

“I’m proud of the players,” said Coyle, 42, as he emerged from the dressing room after his players were given a standing ovation from both sets of fans at the final whistle.

“I’m not going to come out and berate any of the players, they’ve been absolutely outstanding in this competition and the gulf in class and quality was clear to see in the first-half today and it could’ve been a 95 minutes that we really wanted to forget.

“My message at half-time was to make it respectable in the second half and try to get a clean-sheet and try to win the second half – and the boys done that, so they’ve been absolutely brilliant the whole competition and today it’s just the levels have been so clear, physically, tactically but this is where we aspire to be.

“You’ve got some young players that have recognised and seen today what they need to do and how much better they need to be to play at these levels, as a management team, tactically as well, we need to be better as well.

"It’s been a great journey. We’re never going to win The FA Cup. It’s been one hell of a journey to beat three Step Three teams. It’s been a great year and the aim at the start of the year was to do much better than what we did last year and we’ve most certainly done that.”

It was a risk for Whitstable Town to attempt to play-out-from-the-back as visiting goalkeeper Daniel Colmer was pressurised by Obiero as he cleared his lines, setting the tone after only 32 seconds.

Pacey left-winger Sak Hassan put in a cross from within the left-channel and Whitstable centre-half Finn O’Mara’s clearance bounced off Olomola and bounced past the near-post (46 seconds).

Wealdstone opened the floodgates, taking the lead with three minutes and 6 seconds on the clock, as Whitstable Town’s right-back Theo Osinfolarin was often their weak link in defence by not keeping tight enough to Hassan.

Hassan played the ball down the line to release Olomola, who cut into the box and put in a low cross towards the near post where Obiero back-healed the ball underneath Colmer from a couple of yards out.

“What didn’t they pose us in terms of threats?  Just tactically, their shape’s brilliant and they’ve got a real good management and coaching team that try to play in the right way,” said Coyle.

“We’ve seen them enough to know that and tactically in the first half we tried to play a little bit more than what we usually do, which kind of lent into their hands a little bit, so we’ve got to take responsibility for that as a management team but we kind of reverted back into a different approach in the second half and we won the second half 1-0, which was brilliant for us in terms of moving into a focus now of trying to win the League.”

When asked about the finish, Coyle admitted: “Sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up, they’ve got absolute quality throughout their team and they found us with a spare player too many times and caused us too many problems.

“I was a bit frustrated with a couple of their goals, two or three of the goals were through our mistakes but as I say, the response in the second half was phenomenal.”

Wealdstone’s attacking players were dangerous, with no protection coming in Whitstable’s midfield three of Mikey Dalton, Finlay Cotton or Bradley Schafer and there was no attacking outlet going the other way as Wealdstone were just too good during a first-half footballing lesson.

Obiero easily cut past Osinfoloarin like he wasn’t there and cut into the box down the left before cutting the ball back to Nathan Tsikuna (who operated behind the front four) but he took a touch and lashed his left-footed drive high over the crossbar from inside the D in the 15^th minute.

Wealdstone killed the game off as early as 21 minutes and 6 seconds on the clock, with their second goal.

Whitstable attacker Javaun Splatt hooked a left-footed pass from midfield over the halfway line, which was cushion headed down by Wealdstone centre-half Jack Cook, which sent Dutchman Enzio Boldewijn on his way.

He easily ran past a couple of Whitstable players down the right before putting it on a plate for Obiero, whose back-heal flicked the ball across the flat-footed Colmer to roll the ball into the bottom far corner to score his fifth goal of the season.

“It was a great finish, fair enough, a brilliant finish,” said Coyle.

“The game plan didn’t go to head, we wanted to try to slow it down and try and play to our tempo a little bit but we conceded some soft goals earlier in the game, which gave us a mountain to climb.

“But as I said, the boys didn’t roll over, they didn’t give up and their attitude and their application in the second half was fantastic.”

Boldewijn drove down the right again before feeding Mussa, before he teed up Olomola, whose right-footed shot on the turn from 16-yards was comfortably gathered by an untroubled Colmer, who picked up the rolling ball.

However, Wealdstone notched a clinical third with 25 minutes and 35 seconds on the clock, as Cox’s men played like one of those iconic Brazilian World Cup winning teams of the past, in the first half.

Tsikuna’s first time diagonal from inside the centre-circle was swept out to Hassan, who cut in and fizzed in a great cross.  The ball was retrieved by Tsikuna, who teed up Mussa, who clinically placed his right-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner, past the diving Colmer.

“It was a great finish, yes, really good,” added Coyle, who was then asked his side won’t come up against such outstanding quality in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division this season. There are some decent sides like Rusthall, Fisher and Holmesdale who play good attacking football – but none reach the same levels as this Wealdstone side.

“That’s what we said, we deliver the same level of performance in the second half at our level, then there won’t be many teams that can get anywhere near us but we’ve got to now replicate that same desire in our League games,” added Coyle.

Colmer did make a comfortable catch to prevent Wealdstone scoring from their third of 10 corners.

Hassan swung the ball in from the right and Boldewijn found a pocket of space at the near-post to steer his header towards the top near corner, which Colmer comfortably plucked out of the air with both of his arms up in the air.

Whitstable Town finally got hold of Obiero and put one on him, as referee Tolu Sangowawa penalised centre-half William Thomas for making the foul outside the D in a central position.

Hassan’s initial right-footed free-kick was dealt with by the Whitstable defence but Wealdstone centre-half Connor McAvoy recycled the ball back into the box from the left and the ball fell to Olomola, who emphatically placed his right-footed shot across Colmer to score the home side’s fourth goal, timed at 31 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock.

“Yes, yet again that was one of the goals, it doesn’t matter about the levels you’re playing against, but it could’ve been stopped, so that was a frustrating one, definitely, yes,” admitted Coyle.

Whitstable Town were clearly giving their full-time opponents way too much respect in the first half and often failed to put in a tackle as the home side’s outstanding threats were opening up many gaping wounds with litres of blood pouring out of Whitstable’s hearts.

“I thought we were nervous. I thought we were really nervous in the first 25 minutes,” revealed Coyle, when it was put to him that his side ‘gave Wealdstone too much respect during the first half.’

“There’s some players that have never played against this level of opposition – but that’s expected.

“We’ve got a real young side, that some of them have only ever played Step Five, this is either their first or second season at Step Five, so we’ve got another youngster in Jake Abrahams, whose come in, he’s 17-years-old, he’s played against a National League side today. Ashdon Day, that's started, 18 years old, so we’ve got a lot of youngsters. Fin Cotton, whose 21.

“It’s a great experience for them and they’ve got aspirations of playing at this level and they’ve seen today what they need to aspire to be if they want to try to play at this level.”

This outstanding Wealdstone side made it 5-0 with 38 minutes and 43 seconds on the clock, hitting a battered Whitstable side on the counter-attack.

Boldewijin swept the ball from inside the centre-circle out to the outstanding Hassan, who cut in to the box from the left, and his low cross was spilt by Colmer at his near-post and Olomola accepted the gift by tapping the ball into the bottom left-hand corner with his right-foot from two-yards.

“They weren’t just dangerous down our left, both sides, it was all over the pitch,” said Coyle.

“They had threats all over the pitch. They’ve got some fantastic players.  Unfortunately, they capitalised on any mistakes that we made and we made too many of them in the first half.

“It’s a soft goal, another soft goal. Like I say, we gave away some soft goals today, which was frustrating.”

There was still time for Wealdstone to create a couple of more chances before the much-needed half-time whistle.

Whitstable Town left-back Jake McIntyre put a free-kick into the Wealdstone box and the ball came out to Grant, whose shot on the turn from inside the D was blocked and the home side swiftly counter-attacked down the middle.

Olomola travelled over the half-way line before feeding Tsikuna who played a 20-yard pass over to the unmarked Hassan, who drilled his first-time right-footed drive harmlessly wide of the far post from 25-yards.

Mussa skipped past Dalton in midfield before releasing Tsikuna, who played Olomola in behind and his right-footed shot was saved well by Colmer, diving low to his right and using a strong right-hand to make a save to prevent more humiliation against a full-time side that train two mornings a week and on a Thursday night.

“I can’t speak highly enough of my players. I’m never going to stand here, we’ve just played against a National League side that are full-time professionals and kind of break them down and blame individuals,” said Coyle.

“It was collectively from the management team and the players’ in the first half it was not good enough but the second half we were absolutely phenomenal and a great reaction.

“We changed our shape. We made a change in terms of personnel and we changed the way that we tried to play out from the back and we got our successes straight away with the goal that we scored.”

Whitstable Town’s record FA Cup defeat was back in 1967 when they lost 7-1 at home to Dover in the Second Qualifying Round.  Wealdstone were on course of winning this game by scoring at least 12 but Whitstable Town put in a vastly improved second half performance.

Wealdstone manager Cox, meanwhile, switched formation from three centre-halves to a four, with Junior Tiensia coming off the bench to play at left-back, with wing-back Boldewijin slotting beside Woodman in the middle and Dom Hutchinson coming on at right-back.

Ashdon Day (who offered nothing in attack down the left wing) was hooked by Coyle at the interval and on came Jayden Boulton, who slotted in at left-back and McIntyre moved along into centre-half alongside Thomas and O’Mara, with Osinfolarin keeping his right-back slot, often high and out of position.

But a key tactical change from Coyle was pushing Schafer up and playing behind the front two of Grant and Splatt, which gave the Oystermen much needed attacking momentum.

The tactical masterstroke helped Whitstable Town immensely, as they gave their fans something to cheer by scoring a consolation goal, just 87 seconds into the second half.

McIntyre floated a left-footed cross back into the Wealdstone box and Grant took a touch before clinically placing his right-footed shot across goalkeeper Dante Baptistie to find the bottom far corner.

“So yes, we put Granty and Splatty up front. I thought they were a constant threat and they made the centre-halves realise they was in a game today and that’s all we can ask for.

“They were feeding off scraps a little bit in the first half but they never gave up. They were putting their body in and they were a real threat throughout the whole game and feeding off scraps most of the time and I thought Granty deserved his goal.”

Colmer also put in a vastly-improved performance in goal for Whitstable Town and was called into making a save (3:23) following a well-worked Wealdstone set-piece.

Hassan touched the ball to Tsikuna, who set the ball back to Hassan, who floated in the ball into the Whitstable box and centre-half Deon Woodman had two bites of the cherry, his second effort, left-footed was palmed over by Colmer’s two outstretched arms above his head.

Coyle said: “Really proud, I’m really proud.  They’ve taken on board a little bit of a tactical change and implemented that and as I say, to win the second half 1-0, it could’ve got a lot worse for us in the way that we started the game, so I’m really pleased.

“It’s been a fantastic journey to beat the teams that we beat to get here but ultimately you’re going to find your match or above your match and we almost certainly done that today in a side that I’ve got utmost respect for Coxy, the manager.

“We’ve watched the way they play and tactically they are absolutely brilliant to watch. I think he’s got a real bright future in the game in terms of coaching and managing.”

When asked about the prospect of conceding at least 12 here today, Coyle admitted: “Well, if it carried on after the first 30 minutes, that was a concern but ultimately you’re looking at the players, even at that point, even when they’re 5-0 down, they’re not giving up. They’re not rolling over and that’s the togetherness that got us the success last season and they’ve shown that today.

“It could’ve been arms being thrown up in the air and feeling sorry about themselves but they’ve stuck together and they’ve grinded out a really, really good second half performance.”

Mussa pleaded his innocence after bringing down Schafer, after a move which included Grant and Splatt in the final third.

McIntyre stroked his left-footed free-kick over the five-man wall and Baptiste made a comfortable save, palming the ball towards safety, as Whitstable Town called the Wealdstone keeper into making a save in the 55^th minute.

“Yet again, if we’re following it in, it’s a tap-in for someone. We’ve knocked on the door, as I say, the gulf in quality is showing over the 95 minutes,” added Coyle.

Wealdstone substitute right-back Don Hutchinson continued the threat as he often got in behind down the channel and he put in a deep cross from there, which was brought down by the chest of substitute striker Nathan Young-Coombes and Olomola’s left-footed hooked shot on the turn from 16-yards was comfortably held by Colmer, low to his right to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom left-hand corner (19:18).

Whitstable Town forced just the one corner and Baptiste made a comfortable 72^nd minute stop, following a well-worked left-wing routine.

Schafer played it short to substitute attacker Joe Healy, the ball was worked back to Osinfolarin, who curled his right-footed shot towards the bottom far corner from 25-yards, the ball was comfortably gathered by Baptiste, low to his left.

“It’s another half-chance, that didn’t make the goalkeeper work but again we knocked on the door in the second half and that’s all you can ask for,” added Coyle.

There were knocks for Grant and Schafer during the second half and both were withdrawn and Coyle was asked about the attacking pair’s injuries.

“We obviously made five subs today because the game was done at half-time – we knew that - but we just needed to make it respectable in the second half and give a good account of ourselves, a better account than we did in the first half and the players done that.

“We’ve got another game on Wednesday that we need to protect our key players.”

Wealdstone – whose three-game run was ended by Wycombe Wanderers in the Second Round last season – comfortably saw the game out with plenty of possession and chances.

Mussa cut into the Whitstable box from the left and cut the ball back for Young-Coombes, who placed his shot across the keeper and deflecting past the far post inside the final seven minutes.

Hassan’s corner came in from the right and Colmer punched the ball away and Hassan recycled the ball back into the box and Young-Coombes’ right-footed shot on the turn was comfortably held by Colmer, low to his left.

Hutchinson played the ball along the deck to Olomola, before he played a one-two with Hutchinson before Olomola’s right-footed drive was palmed away by Colmer at head height (39:35).

The home fans were voicing their frustration and hundreds started heading for the exits inside the final five minutes as Cox’s side failed to match the dizzy heights that their performance hit during their outstanding first half showing.

Healy – who played fifth-tier football earlier in his career with Welling United – skipped past three men and played the ball into substitute Jake Abrahams, but he lost his footing as he rolled a poor shot towards goal from 25-yards, which was comfortably gathered by Baptiste.

Whitstable Town return to domestic matters on Wednesday night with a trip to Bromley to play Holmesdale in the Kent Senior Trophy First Round.

Andy Constable’s side rose to second-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table (23 points from 13 games) with a 1-0 win at bottom-side Stansfeld in midweek.

“Our focus now it to make sure that we get out of Step Five because the club, the infrastructure, the players’, the squad, the management team that we’ve got, should be working at higher levels, so that’s our real aim,” said Coyle.

“But I take real pride in what I’ve seen, in terms of what these players have achieved in this competition, to look at the noise that our fans made and our boys getting clapped off by the home supporters today, because they’ve seen a real gritty determined performance in the second half, where teams could’ve rolled over and it could’ve been 10, 11 or 12.

“You’ve got 300 home fans that are clapping off the management team and the away team and that’s testament to the boys in terms of their efforts today.”

Whitstable Town have banked £16,944 in prize money from their lengthy run in The FA Cup and Coyle is keen to use that to strengthen his squad ahead of their fixture backlog.

“The board are always there to support us and if we are, like what we did last year, we had to have a bit of a bigger squad because we had such a success in Cup runs last year that we had so many league games (to catch up with).

“Hopefully come the next few weeks, if we are struggling with numbers, we can try to bolster the squad slightly but at the moment, fingers crossed, we’re in a good place and our focus now goes to Wednesday in the Kent Senior Trophy and obviously a League game (at leaders Erith & Belvedere) next weekend.

“If we show the same effort, desire and quality (at Holmesdale) that we did in the second half then there shouldn’t be a team at our level gets anywhere near us but we’ve got to replicate higher levels of performance every game now between now and the end of the season to make sure we are where we want to be, come the end of April.

“Well, fingers crossed you don’t pick up any injuries and at the moment we’re in a good place. We’ve got Chris Alhassan that comes back who was cup-tied (having played for Stansfeld in their 4-0 home defeat to Harrow Borough in the Extra Preliminary Round).  We’ve got Ricardo Thompson whose a couple of weeks away, so we need to have a look at maybe getting one or two extra bodies in to cover the games because we’ve got so many league games that have been cancelled.

“I think we’ve got five games in hand in the League so we’re never going to carry on with the numbers that we’ve got currently, so we may have to look to bolstering the squad in the next few weeks but I’m sure we’ll be absolutely fine. We’re a fit, young side and I’m sure we’re going to be absolutely fine.”

Coyle was quick to praise the travelling fans for their support in Ruislip today – although not all 260 of them will fancy a Wednesday night at Oakley Road for some County Cup action.

“Absolutely unbelievable. At 5-0 down early in the first half, the noise, they’re getting behind the boys. The boys are coming out in the second half and they’re still getting behind the boys.

“I’ve been at a lot of football clubs where you wouldn’t see that from your support but they’re phenomenal – they have been all season. They get behind the boys, get behind the management team because they’re proud, as we are, of what we’ve achieved in this competition this year.”

When asked about the mood inside the away dressing room at the final whistle, Coyle painted the picture.

“Upbeat, upbeat. I’ve just said to them, ‘enjoy, enjoy days like today.’ I know it’s hard because of the scoreline but you’ve got to enjoy days like today.

“We’ve got some young players’ that have never been this far in the competition, some of them have never played in The FA  Cup before, so we’ve done really, really well. Collectively, the club has done outstanding in The FA Cup this year.

“We lost in the first game at (Isthmian League South East) Sevenoaks last year and my aim was to test ourselves against better opposition and we’ve most certainly done that and we’ve been a lot better than three Step Three clubs but today was one step too far.”

Wealdstone: Dante Baptiste, Enzio Boldewijn, Sak Hassan, Deon Woodman, Jack Cook (Dom Hutchinson 46), Connor McAvoy (Junior Tiensia 46), Nathan Tsikuna (Marcus Day 88), Omar Mussa, Olufela Olomola, Micah Obiero (Nathan Young-Coombes 61), Anthony Georgiou (Dylan Kadji 16).
Subs: Moussa Diarra, Lucas Covolan

Goals: Micah Obiero 4, 22, Omar Mussa 26, Olufela Olomola 32, 39

Booked: Enzio Boldewijn 36, Omar Mussa 54

Whitstable Town: Daniel Colmer, Theo Osinfolarin, Jake McIntyre, Mikey Dalton, Finn O’Mara (Jake Abrahams 81), William Thomas, Ashdon Day (Jayden Boulton 46), Finlay Cotton (Connor Wilkins 63), Dean Grant (Joe Healy 69), Bradley Schafer (Callum Peck 88), Javaun Splatt.
Subs: Josh Robson, Thiago Ferreira

Goal: Dean Grant 47

Booked: Finlay Cotton 38, Jayden Boulton 73

Attendance: 1,152 (260)
Referee: Mr Tolu Sangowawa
Assistants: Mr Grzegorz Kornasiewicz & Mr Declan O’Shea
Fourth Official: Mr Jason Porter
Referee Coach: Mr Trevor Parkes