Whitstable travel to Grosvenor Vale on Saturday to play their seventh game in this season's Emirates FA Cup competition against National League Wealdstone, a team currently sitting 91 places above them in the football pyramid.
Whitstable entered the competition at the first stage, the Extra Preliminary Round and have won through five rounds to reach the Fourth Round Qualifying for the first time ever. They are now the only remaining club that play at Step 5 of the National League System, which is the ninth tier of English football. There are two other survivors from that opening round, Runcorn Linnets and Maldon & Tiptree, both are Step 4 clubs.
747 clubs were accepted into the FA Cup this season, of which 446 played in the Extra Preliminary Round that took place over the first weekend in August. Whitstable were drawn away in the two preliminary rounds, to Step 5 opponents, winning both games by large margins, 7-2 at Lingfield and 9-0 at Edgware & Kingsbury.
The games then got much tougher, with an away draw against Dulwich Hamlet who were riding high in the Isthmian Premier Division (Step 3). Despite trailing 2-0 in the first half, Whitstable turned things around, the hosts had two players sent off and a last minute goal produced an incredible 3-2 win.
Next up was another Isthmian Premier Division team, Chichester City, but this time Whitstable were drawn at home and probably should have won after taking the lead and playing really well, but a late equaliser meant a Tuesday replay in West Sussex. A disciplined display and a well taken goal produced another cup upset as Whitstable stood firm to win 1-0.
Whitstable had never progressed beyond the Third Round Qualifying and this time they were drawn at home to another Step 3 club, Hungerford Town of the Southern League Premier South and once again didn't look out of place, deservedly winning 2-0 to make another piece of history.
The team are also currently the top scorers in this season's FA Cup, with 23 goals. Leading the way individually are:
Bradley Schafer 6
Dean Grant 5
Joe Healy 4
Javaun Splatt 3
Whitstable Town Football Club was founded in the mid-1880s, but first entered the FA Cup in 1910-11, with their first ever match in the competition on 17th September 1910 when they won a Preliminary Round tie 3-2 at Folkestone Town. They lost 2-1 at Dartford a couple of rounds later in front of a crowd of 2,150.
They had reached the Third Round Qualifying four times before this season, although none of those campaigns included as many games.
1911-12
Wins against Bronze Athletic and Sittingbourne got them into the Third Round Qualifying where they lost to Catford Southend after a replay
1957-58
Whitstable began in the Preliminary Round and knocked out Maidstone United, Canterbury City and Betteshanger Colliery to earn a home tie against a very strong Gravesend & Northfleet team that won the Southern League championship that season. Whitstable lost 3-0, but the game was watched by around 2,500 people, which stood as the record attendance at the Belmont Ground until it was beaten twice in FA Vase matches early in 2025.
1986-87
Whitstable did not play until the First Round Qualifying, but then beat Tonbridge and Folkestone Town before going out to a late penalty at Herne Bay.
1989-90
Whitstable were drawn away in each round, winning at Deal Town and Walton & Hersham before losing 2-0 to Hythe Town.
Our next opponents Wealdstone play in the National League (Step 1) meaning that they only join the competition at this stage. They first entered the FA Cup in 1913, but the 2024-25 season was a special one as they knocked out Gosport Borough and followed that with a 1-0 win against League Two Grimsby Town that gave them a televised tie against Wycombe Wanderers in the Second Round Proper, which they lost 1-0. That was the first time they had got past the Fourth Round Qualifying since 2015-16. They got as far as the Third Round in 1977-78 before losing to Queens Park Rangers.
A Step 5 club has yet to beat a Step 1 club away from home in the FA Cup, so it would be another record for the Oysters should they manage another cup upset.
The wonderful run to Wembley last season in the Isuzu FA Vase that ended with an extra time win against AFC Whyteleafe to bring that trophy back to Kent for the first time in 25 years appears to have inspired more cup headlines for this team. Once again, the analysis, preparation and planning will be thorough, and a good number of Oyster fans will be there to support. The challenge is huge, but in football, we all love to dream!