Whitstable made a tame exit from the SCEFL Challenge Cup on Tuesday evening, losing by a single first half goal to Kennington. Charlie Owen scored the decisive goal early in the first half when his shot was deflected past Dan Eason. The Whitstable goalkeeper made two good saves to prevent Kennington increasing their half time lead, while Joe Mant also twice denied Whitstable. The majority of the chances in the second half were created by Whitstable, although the home supporters had few real moments of concern as the Whitstable team, missing a number of regular starters, struggled to break down their determined hosts who held on to progress to the last eight of the competition.

This was the third meeting between the teams this season with Whitstable having comfortably won the two league fixtures against a Kennington team, not helped by having to play all of their early games away while the pitch at Ashford was renewed, currently sitting bottom of the league. Whitstable had been in a good run of form, but with several regulars injured or unwell, a number of under 23, under 18 and academy players were called into the squad for this cup tie. Mikey Dalton, Liam Gillies, Josh Williams and Tyler Anderson were all ruled out, a not fully fit Harvey Smith was named as a substitute and Steadman Callender started despite not feeling too well. There was a start for Ed May, while Manny Cuttress and Jake Salisbury were called into the squad and joined by George McIlroy, who was making a welcome return to the team for the first time since April 2022.

Whitstable made a bright enough start, with an early attempt by Will Thomas blocked, then when a cross was cleared to Josh Oliver on the edge of the area, his low shot was turned around the post by a diving Joe Mant. It was the home team that made the breakthrough however in the 12th minute when they won possession and eventually worked the ball to Charlie Owen in the middle and he found Harry Linch on the right who sent over a low cross that reached Owen 22 yards from goal and his shot took a deflection off May and looped over Dan Eason. Emmanuel Oloyede made a promising run before being brought down by Adam Phillips, although the referee thought otherwise and allowed play to continue. A good left wing cross by Max Sutton reached Elliott Moore at the back post and Eason did well to block his shot then Jamahl Howlett-Mundle headed away the rebound just as Moore was about to follow in. The resulting corner was played short, then crossed and nodded on for Ed Millier who headed wide. Whitstable almost equalised in the 20th minute when Thomas swung the ball over from the left and Mant clawed it out from under the bar where it dropped to Howlett-Mundle, but his goal bound shot struck teammate Oloyede and went wide. In the 30th minute, a cross from the right was steered towards goal by Ryan Philpott and pushed out by Eason before the danger was cleared by Jake Mackenzie. Whitstable won a couple of corners, but failed to further test Mant before the interval, so Kennington went in deservedly ahead at 1-0.

Harvey Smith was introduced by Whitstable for the second half in an effort to get back into the tie. Kennington though had two early chances, that would be their only meaningful attempts of the half. A run by Ziyad Ghali down the left created a good opportunity for Linch who ballooned the ball over the top, then a few minutes later Ghali curled a shot into the hands of Eason. After a pair of home substitutions, Thomas sent Oloyede away and he was allowed to continue despite looking suspiciously offside, but Mant smothered his shot. Oloyede then dribbled past several defenders, but his shot lacked the power to trouble Mant. McIlroy replaced Thomas who had been playing in a midfield role in this game, then a Smith shot struck a defender and rebounded to Oliver whose shot was deflected over for a corner. An Oliver cross was then headed over the bar by Smith before Cuttress came on for his debut. Whitstable’s best chance to level arrived in the 75th minute when a great Oliver cross picked out the run of Oloyede in the box, but he put his header wide. Oloyede had another go, with a run from his own half before his shot was closed down by a defender, then a smart turn and shot by Smith was dealt with by Mant. Kennington did put the ball in the Whitstable net following a free kick on 80 minutes, but celebrations were cut short by an offside flag. 16 year-old Salisbury was the next to make his Whitstable debut with time running out. There were two late bookings for home players and Smith failed with two attempts in added time, as Kennington held on to book a home quarter final against Deal Town or Staplehurst Monarchs.

The next action for Whitstable is a Saturday trip to Gravesend for a league fixture against Punjab United, who are the only team in the division still unbeaten at home this season and manager Marcel Nimani will be hoping to have some of the missing players available for selection again.

Kennington	Data	Whitstable
4	Shots on target	5
2	Shots off target	3
1	Shots blocked	7
2	Corners	6
12	Fouls conceded	7
4	Offside	1
0	Penalties	0

Kennington
Joe Mant (c), Connor Tilley, Max Sutton, Adam Phillips (Luke Hughes 84), Ed Miller, Harry Lavender, Charlie Owen (Billy Somerville 60), Elliott Moore, Ryan Philpott (Jordan Griffin 85), Ziyad Ghali (Fin Dent 60), Harry Linch.
Sub (unused): Sam Brown
Goal: Charlie Owen 12
Yellow cards: Connor Tilley 90+3, Jordan Griffin 90+4.

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason (Josh Robson 90+2), Jake Mackenzie, George Sheminant (Jake Salisbury 83), Will Thomas (George McIlroy 67), Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Tom Mills (c), Ed May (Harvey Smith 46), Reece Gillies, Emmanuel Oloyede, Josh Oliver, Steadman Callender (Manny Cuttress 73).
Subs (unused): none

Attendance: 102
Referee: Stephen Ryan
Assistants: Ayden Gillespie & Çağri Ustaoğlu