HOLLANDS & BLAIR 2 WHITSTABLE TOWN 3
Pre-season friendly
Tuesday July 14 2026 19.45

This Tuesday evening fixture at Hollands & Blair brought Whitstable their third consecutive away win against SCEFL Premier Division opposition, but despite a promising start, they were made to work hard by a team that finished last season strongly. The game ended in a 3-2 away win with some well taken goals, but there were certainly a few lessons to be learned from the game that involved around 22 Whitstable players, in particular the manner of the two poor goals conceded.

Whitstable were without a couple of players, but still took a relatively large squad to their fourth game of this pre-season campaign. There were a few familiar faces in the Hollands & Blair team, as well as former Whitstable manager, and goalkeeper, Mark Lane who is now part of the Blair coaching team. Players formerly with the Oysters included Matt Gething, Mo Cham, Reece Gillies and Kane Rowland. Striker Dean Grant, who has made 136 appearances and scored 41 goals for Whitstable during several spells, was also in attendance after spending pre-season with Blair, but had to miss this game due to an injury picked up in their 0-5 loss to Faversham.

The game started well for Whitstable and Blair goalkeeper Dan Ellis did well to keep out an early Tom Beere shot. Dan Colmer then saved an effort from Kelvin Boissierre, but Whitstable were soon in front when they caught Blair trying to play out from the back and Tom Hanfrey delivered a good cross from the left that was headed in by Kweku Lucan in the 7th minute. The Whitstable lead was doubled on 18 minutes when another left wing cross, this time from a trialist, was converted by Robbie Rees who slid in to steer the ball home. Three minutes later, some poor defending from a Callum Flynn corner kick allowed Gething to glance home a header and pull a goal back. That seemed to inspire the home team and Cham sent a shot just wide of the far post before Gething got his head to another corner, but this time the ball hit the bar and bounced down and out. Blair players thought the ball had crossed the line, but the officials did not agree. Whitstable went 3-1 up in the 38th minute when Alex Wall flicked on a header from inside his own half and Lucan got past his marker to race clear and prod the ball past Ellis.

As is normally the case in these games, plenty of changes were made during the second half and Whitstable struggled to find much cohesion in their play. Cham threatened on several occasions and forced Colmer to make a couple of saves, but the game reached the 79th minute before an unmarked Rowland headed a cross past substitute keeper Zach Keeble to make it 2-3. Whitstable had a great opportunity to add a late fourth when a break down the right found two players clear in the middle, but they delayed just long enough to allow a defender to get back to block the shot. The referee had seen enough and blew for time a little before the clock reached 90 minutes.

Whitstable have a home game against Dartford on Saturday afternoon. This will be the fifth pre-season fixture for the Oystermen and their Isthmian Premier Division opponents should provide a good test of the progress made to date.

Hollands & Blair
Dan Ellis (c), Trialist, Callum Flynn, Matt Gething, Charlie Weston, George Byrne, Mo Cham, Reece Gillies, Kane Rowland, Kelvin Boissierre, Owen Edwards.
Subs: Datiel Jackson, Ade Batula, Jack Reeves, Drew Briffitt, Josh Brooker.
Goals: Matt Gething 21, Kane Rowland 79.

Whitstable Town
Dan Colmer, Liam Boxall, Tom Hanfrey, Tom Beere, Charlie Thomson, Ian Gayle (c), Kenny Aileru, Robbie Rees, Kweku Lucan, Alex Wall, Trialist.
Subs: Zach Keeble, Perri Iandolo, Jeremiah Gyebi, Derek Asamoah, Harrison Pont, Jack Nelson, Trialists.
Goals: Kweku Lucan 7, 38, Robbie Rees 18.

Attendance: 87
Referee: Jeff Davis