This Saturday evening game attracted a crowd of 682, boosted by being a part of the “SCEFL Groundhop 2023”. An entertaining game ended with Whitstable surviving late Bearsted pressure to secure maximum points, having earlier appeared to be coasting to a relatively comfortable win. Josh Oliver gave Whitstable an early lead and the game might have been wrapped up by half time as numerous chances were created and the bar struck twice. Harvey Smith doubled the lead early in the second half with a “goal of the season” contender, but with twenty minutes remaining Joel Wakefield pulled a goal back to give his team hope. Frankie Leonard denied Whitstable a third when Josh Williams raced clear before the last few minutes saw Bearsted pile on the pressure, but despite going close on several occasions, Whitstable held on to win.

This game was the fourth of six weekend “Groundhop” games across Kent and brought football supporters from around the country to the Belmont. Bearsted have enjoyed a promising start to the season and arrived in Whitstable having lost only one of their first eight league games – at Faversham. Whitstable made one change to the team that lost disappointingly at Tunbridge Wells, with Josh Oliver returning and Tyler Anderson dropping to the bench. New signing Nathan Palmer made his first start for Bearsted.

Prior to the 6.30pm kick off, there was an emotional tribute by Ben Jennings to Matt Milne, who did so much for the club before he unexpectedly passed away the previous weekend. This was followed by a minute’s applause.

The game could hardly have started better for Whitstable who opened the scoring in the 3rd minute when Liam Gillies won the ball and passed to Oliver on the left and he took the ball into the box before beating goalkeeper Frankie Leonard with a shot into the far corner. In the 10th minute, Harvey Smith headed the ball on for Josh Williams down the right and he ran towards the 18 yard line before hitting the top of the bar with a curling shot. Ben Cheklit then received a pass from Jack Palmby, flicked the ball up and hooked it past a defender before crashing a shot off the bar from the right edge of the penalty area. Whitstable continued to dominate and Williams shot wide, then Smith fired a shot just past the far post after some good play by Wiliams and Cheklit. Bearsted had created little, but William Johnson-Cole saw his deflected shot loop safely into the hands of Dan Eason. Gillies tried his luck from distance, but failed to hit the target. Williams then ran from his own half, evading several challenges before being tripped just outside the box by Ryan Blake, with the ball being deflected past the post off Dennis Agbudume, but mysteriously a goal kick was awarded. Williams was found by a ball over the top and tried to lob the advancing goalkeeper, but the ball went away for a corner, as the referee spotted a deflection. For all of Whitstable’s pressure, Bearsted almost equalised from a corner in the 38th minute as the ball was headed on by Ollie Freeman to Johnson-Cole who hooked his shot just past the post. Whitstable led 1-0 at the break, but the feeling around the ground was that they might regret not establishing a more commanding advantage.

Bearsted made two half time substitutions and Palmer tried a long range shot that was easily saved. Williams created an opening for Oliver who struck a firm low shot from 20 yards that was well saved by Leonard. Whitstable introduced Eri Akintimehin and he played a part in extending the lead in the 55th minute, when he was involved several times in a sequence of passes with George Sheminant, Palmby and Smith and when he rolled the ball to Smith about 20 yards from goal, he swerved an unstoppable shot into the far top corner. Oliver had another couple of shots saved, but the game changed in the 70th minute when Whitstable lost possession in their own half and this led to a chance for Omotunmise Akanni to cross from the left for Joel Wakefield who had the time to slot the ball past Eason. The game became quite stretched for a while with a few half chances at both ends and there was a handball shout against Gillies from Bearsted when an Akanni shot was deflected away, but the referee was unimpressed. In the 83rd minute, Williams got the better of two opponents in the centre circle and raced clear with just Leonard to beat, but the goalkeeper managed to get his foot in the way to deny Whitstable a third goal. The remaining minutes were mainly spent with Bearsted pushing for an equaliser and a long range Lewis Neale effort landed on top of the net. A rare Whitstable break did lead to a booking for Alfie Saunders who pulled down Smith. Deep into added time an Akanni cross was headed down by Johnson-Cole and the ball was stabbed towards goal, but struck the foot of the post, then a Palmer cross was headed just off target by Freeman and after one final corner came to nothing, the Whitstable fans around the ground were quite relieved to hear the final whistle.

It was a much improved performance by Whitstable against a good Bearsted team and they will hope to carry this forward to the away game at Hollands and Blair on Tuesday.

Whitstable	Data	Bearsted
6	Shots on target	2
8	Shots off target	8
1	Shots blocked	4
3	Corners	4
7	Fouls conceded	12
3	Offside	0
0	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Jake Mackenzie, George Sheminant, Jack Palmby, Will Thomas, Tom Mills (c), Josh Oliver (James Brown 85), Liam Gillies, Harvey Smith (Tyler Anderson 90+4), Ben Cheklit (Eri Akintimehin 53), Josh Williams.
Subs (unused): Ed May, Josh Robson.
Goals: Josh Oliver 3, Harvey Smith 55.
Yellow card: Jake Mackenzie 75

Bearsted
Frankie Leonard, Dennis Agbudume, Callum McCarthy (Alfie Saunders 46), Adam Turton (Joel Wakefield 46), Ryan Blake (c) (Lewis Neale 68), Daniel Melvin, Jordan Tingley (Devonte West 90+4), Nathan Palmer, Ollie Freeman, Omotunmise Akanni, William Johnson-Cole.
Sub (unused): Robbie Roberts
Goal: Joel Wakefield 70
Yellow cards: Callum McCarthy 42, Alfie Saunders 90+3.

Attendance: 682
Referee: Benjamin Marshall
Assistants: Harrison Clark & Robert Waldron