A history making run in the Emirates FA Cup finally ended, predictably, at National League club Wealdstone whose first half performance ensured their safe passage to the next round. Any chance Whitstable had of achieving an extraordinary cup upset probably ended when they conceded an early goal to Micah Obiero. It remained 1-0 until midway through the half, but then the home team took complete control as Obiero scored again before Omar Mussa made it three and Olufela Olomola scored twice to make it 5-0 at half time. Whitstable regrouped for the second half and Dean Grant replied with a goal soon after the restart. They gave a much better account of themselves and were largely able to frustrate Wealdstone for the rest of the game, although the result was never really in doubt

Reaching the FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying for the first time, coupled with being the last Step 5 club remaining in the competition, had already made this feel like a very special achievement by Whitstable. They had beaten two Step 5 clubs and three Step 3 clubs, scoring 23 times, to get this far, but a visit to Step 1 Wealdstone was a much bigger challenge. The clubs were actually 91 places apart in the current standings within the football pyramid. Whitstable were able to call on the services of their top FA Cup goal scorer Bradley Schafer and Javaun Splatt, who had both been away during the week, the latter on international duty for the British Virgin Islands. Ricardo Thompson was ruled out due to the injury suffered at Hythe and Chris Alhassan was cup tied. Unusually for a Whitstable game, this cup tie was segregated so the 260 Oysters among the 1,152 crowd were situated behind one goal, but certainly made themselves heard throughout.

Whitstable made a nervous start with an attempted pass by goalkeeper Dan Colmer going straight to an opponent and then a headed clearance rebounded just wide off a Wealdstone player. The large group of Oyster fans behind the goal their team were attacking then enjoyed some moments of promise when Ashdon Day won possession and curled a dangerous ball forward that was only cleared to Schafer, but when Mikey Dalton eventually delivered a cross into the box it was headed clear. It would be some time before that end saw too much action again! Whitstable had negotiated their way to this round with plenty of hard work and astute planning, but maybe they failed to get the tactics quite right in the first half of this game against a very good Wealdstone team who scored the opening goal in the 4th minute. Olufela Olomola received the ball on the left, sped past Finn O'Mara and sent in a low cross that was flicked past Colmer by Micah Obiero. The game's first corner, taken by Sak Hassan, reached Jack Cook beyond the far post and his shot struck the foot of that post before being hooked away by a couple of Whitstable defenders. Will Thomas tried an ambitious long distance shot that struck a defender then O'Mara did well to block an effort from Omar Mussa. Nathan Tshikuna fired a shot well over the top after a spell of pressure from the home side who then had to make an early change when Dylan Kadji replaced Anthony Georgiou in the 16th minute.

Just when it appeared that Whitstable might be settling into the game, Wealdstone scored their second in the 22nd minute. A headed clearance was picked up by Enzio Boldewijn who drifted past several Whitstable players before finding Obiero who guided the ball past Colmer again. Wealdstone piled on the pressure and Olomola turned and shot from 12 yards, but was unable to beat Colmer. It became 3-0 in the 26th minute when some quick passing caused more problems for Whitstable and when Tshikuna rolled the ball across for Mussa, he found the right corner with a clinical strike from 18 yards. Tshikuna's shot was deflected for a corner from which a Connor McAvoy header was also deflected over for another corner. This time Boldewijn headed the ball into the grateful hands of Colmer. The Whitstable supporters began to wonder how big the score might get when Wealdstone added a fourth in the 32nd minute. A free kick was initially cleared, but when McAvoy crossed the ball back in from the left, it fell invitingly for Olomola who made no mistake and found the left corner from 12 yards. Another Tshikuna shot hit a team mate and went wide. Referee Tolu Sangowawa then got involved and issued two quick yellow cards, firstly for a foul on Schafer by Boldewijn and Fin Cotton joined him shortly afterwards for a trip. Olomola scored his second and his team's fifth in the 39th minute after Colmer failed to hold Hassan's low left wing cross and he was on hand to slot in the rebound. There were a couple more chances for Wealdstone to add to their tally in added time following quick breaks, as one shot flew well wide and Colmer denied Olomola his hat trick by diving to his right to save. The Whitstable management team were left with some thinking to do during the interval to limit the damage an impressive Wealdstone team could do in the second half.

Changes were made by both managers when the players returned, with Don Hutchinson and Junior Tiensia coming on for Wealdstone and Jayden Boulton replaced Day for Whitstable who also made some tweaks to the shape of the team and started the half positively. A cross from the right was cleared to Jake McIntyre on the left and he curled a high ball back into the box that went over the head of Tiensia and reached Grant who managed to bring it under control and poke it past Dante Baptiste from six yards to score his sixth goal of this FA Cup campaign in the 47th minute. The noise from the Whitstable supporters went up a level! A free kick into the Whitstable box was headed down and only cleared straight to Deon Woodman whose rising shot was heading for the top corner by the near post, but Colmer managed to turn it over the bar with his right hand. A promising Whitstable move ended with Schafer being brought down 25 yards out by Mussa who was shown a yellow card before McIntyre struck a powerful free kick that was parried by Baptiste and the loose ball was cleared away.

More substitutions took place before Colmer easily saved from Olomola after a cross had been knocked down to him. Whitstable won a corner in the 72nd minute that was played short and when the ball came out the Theo Osinfolarin his shot from distance was saved. Wealdstone created a few opportunities to add to their score in the closing stages and Colmer saved an effort from Nathan Young-Coombes that may have been going wide, then Olomola drew another save from the Whitstable goalkeeper. Connor Wilkins was in the right place to block a Hassan shot when another cross came in from the right. Whitstable substitute Jake Abrahams tried a shot from just outside the box that lacked the power to trouble Baptiste. Not too much happened in the time added on with the result long since decided and the score remained 5-1, but it was a creditable and much improved second half performance by Whitstable who exited the competition after a great run to the applause of both sets of supporters. Wealdstone could look forward to the draw for the First Round Proper on Monday evening.

Whitstable are back in action on Wednesday evening with a trip to Holmesdale in the Kent Senior Trophy, a competition in which they finished runners up last season.

Wealdstone	Data	Whitstable
11	Shots on target	4
6	Shots off target	0
7	Shots blocked	2
9	Corners	1
9	Fouls conceded	19
0	Offside	3
0	Penalties	0

Wealdstone
Dante Baptiste, Jack Cook (c) (Dom Hutchinson 46), Anthony Georgiou (Dylan Kadji 16), Omar Mussa, Deon Woodman, Enzio Boldewijn, Olufela Olomola, Sak Hassan, Micah Obiero (Nathan Young-Coombes 60), Nathan Tshikuna (Marcus Day 88), Connor McAvoy (Junior Tiensia 46).
Subs (unused): Moussa Diarra, Lucas Covolan.
Goals: Micah Obiero 4, 22, Omar Mussa 26, Olufela Olomola 32, 39.
Yellow cards: Enzio Boldewijn 36, Omar Mussa 54.

Whitstable Town
Daniel Colmer, Theo Osinfolarin, Jake McIntyre (c), Mikey Dalton, Finn O’Mara (Jake Abrahams 81), Will Thomas, Javaun Splatt, Fin Cotton (Connor Wilkins 63), Dean Grant (Joe Healy 69), Bradley Schafer (Callum Peck 87), Ashdon Day (Jayden Boulton 46).
Subs (unused): Josh Robson, Thiago Ferreira.
Goal: Dean Grant 47
Yellow cards: Fin Cotton 37, Jayden Boulton 73.

Attendance: 1,152
Referee: Tolu Sangowawa
Assistants: Grzegorz Kornasiewicz & Declan O'Shea
Fourth Official: Jason Porter