Both teams had to settle for a share of the points at the end of a hard fought game at the Belmont. Whitstable created, and missed, several great chances in the first half, but fell behind to a fierce strike by Gabriel Piorkowski. Emmanuel Oloyede levelled a few minutes before the break to set things up for a competitive second half. Jordan Perrin made a couple of good saves to deny a physical Punjab team and Whitstable had several promising breaks without really testing goalkeeper Rilwan Anibaba, but neither team could find a winner.

The teams arrived for this game with Whitstable in 6th place and Gravesend based Punjab United in 10th, seven points behind, but from three fewer games. Last season, Punjab won 2-1 at Whitstable while there was a 0-0 draw in the reverse fixture. This season, Punjab enjoyed a 4-2 success just before Christmas, so Whitstable were still seeking their first win against these opponents. Once again, there were changes in the Whitstable line up, with returns to the club for two popular former players, Ollie Gray and James Jeffrey. Josh Oliver and George Sheminant were still recovering from injury and for this game Jake Mackenzie switched to left back, with Will Thomas moving to right back. Harvey Smith started on the left of the front three.

The game, played in front of a crowd of 406, might have had an early Punjab goal, but Gray hooked the ball away just as Paul Vines was about to strike from a couple of yards out. Whitstable then had their first opportunity when Stephen Ratcliff misjudged the bounce and left Smith through on goal, but his lob over the advancing goalkeeper, also cleared the bar. Punjab then opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Whitstable were caught playing out from the back and the ball eventually found its way to former Braintree and Sittingbourne midfielder Gabriel Piorkowski about 25 yards from goal and he fired an unstoppable shot into the far corner. Whitstable almost replied quickly when Josh Williams crossed towards three waiting players at the back post, but the ball was intercepted by Chris Edwards with a diving header that went just wide of his own goal.

Williams and Liam Gillies combined to play in Emmanuel Oloyede and his low shot beat Rilwan Anibaba, only to roll agonisingly past the far post. Cruis Nyadzayo lifted a shot over the bar for Punjab, but Whitstable were creating the better chances and Williams collected a loose ball before bursting into the box, but his shot lacked the power to beat Anibaba. In the 40th minute, a great long pass by Tom Mills sent Smith clear, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper. The deserved equaliser finally arrived in the 42nd minute, as Smith headed the ball on for Liam Gillies on the left and he crossed to Oloyede whose initial shot struck the post, but he followed in quickly to prod the ball into the net. Whitstable finished the half on top, but the score remained 1-1 at the interval.

An early Williams cross in the second half saw Smith bundle both the goalkeeper and the ball into the net, but the referee rightly ruled out the effort. Ratcliff was the first player into the book in the 55th minute for one of a number of fouls. Both teams made a change before Jordan Perrin was called upon to tip a Vines header over the bar after a good cross by Emmanuel Osei-Owusu. Piorkowski tried another long range shot that whistled just past the far post. The game became quite open and Whitstable substitute Jabari Christmas shot over the top, then a Punjab free kick was cleared to Piorkowski whose shot was blocked, as was the follow up from Nyadzayo.

In the 82nd minute, Oloyede broke through on the left, but the promising position was halted by a clearly incorrect offside flag, much to the frustration of those home supporters in line with the action. Punjab won a free kick just outside the area and Perrin pulled off a good diving stop to deny Edwards. The visitors were applying a lot of pressure, although Whitstable continued to look a threat on the break and Jordan Campbell saw a yellow card for chopping down Williams, giving Whitstable a free kick that was taken by Jeffrey and saved. In added time, Hudson Scudder had an effort deflected wide and then when Williams was released down the right, with no chance of matching him for pace, Wayne Bushell took him out with a rugby style tackle that earned him a booking. The resulting free kick was cleared by Punjab and they broke quickly to earn one of their own, 25 yards from goal, but Liam Gillies did well to get in the way of the shot by Edwards and the final whistle soon followed. A point each felt about right in the end, but Whitstable will regret their failure to take some of the chances they made, particularly in the first half.

There is now midweek action for both teams. The next game for Punjab is a Kent Senior Cup tie on Tuesday against recent FA Cup heroes Maidstone United, fresh from their win at Ipswich Town. On Wednesday evening, Whitstable travel to play Snodland Town in another SCEFL Premier Division fixture.

Whitstable	Data	Punjab
5	Shots on target	3
8	Shots off target	7
2	Shots blocked	6
4	Corners	3
11	Fouls conceded	18
3	Offside	3
0	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Jordan Perrin, Will Thomas (Tyler Anderson 85), Jake Mackenzie, Mikey Dalton, Ollie Gray, Tom Mills (c), Harvey Smith (James Jeffrey 68), Liam Gillies, Emmanuel Oloyede, Reece Gillies (Jabari Christmas 61), Josh Williams.
Subs (unused): Harrison Carnegie, Dan Eason.
Goal: Emmanuel Oloyede 42

Punjab United
Rilwan Anibaba, Chris Edwards, Andrew Dythe (Jordan Campbell 63), Jack Barry, Stephen Ratcliff (c), Gabriel Piorkowski, Arun Suman (Hudson Scudder 70), Wayne Bushell, Paul Vines, Cruis Nyadzayo (Bilal Bourouf 89), Emmanuel Osei-Owusu.
Subs (unused): Ashley Probets, Sam Bailey.
Goal: Gabriel Piorkowski 10
Yellow cards: Stephen Ratcliff 55, Jordan Campbell 87, Wayne Bushell 90+3.

Attendance: 406
Referee: Michael Corderoy
Assistants: Simon Jackson & Michael Marsh