Whitstable and Deal both showed plenty of battling qualities in this Easter Monday game that provided no shortage of goals or controversy for the bumper 715 holiday crowd at the Belmont. Whitstable can feel a little unfortunate to come away with no reward for their efforts against the league leaders and likely champions, but in the end were undone by a series of injuries to key defenders and having to play for the last quarter of the game with ten men after James Jeffrey was sent off just 35 seconds after coming on as a substitute. In a tight first half, Emmanuel Oloyede put Whitstable ahead with a clever finish before Wes Hennessey equalised on the stroke of half time. Harvey Smith headed Whitstable in front for the second time, but another header from Billy Munday restored parity. The game looked to be heading for an honourable draw until Ashley Miller shot through the crowd in the first minute of added time,

Deal arrived at the Belmont in tremendous form, sitting at the top of the league with games in hand, fifteen points above sixth placed Whitstable who had played four more games. A glance at their league results showed nine consecutive wins, with their last defeat being against Snodland back in October. Their team was missing a couple of regular starters, not surprising given their backlog of fixtures. Whitstable also had to make a late change on the bench, as defender George Sheminant had to pull out through injury. Ollie Gray returned to the starting eleven for Whitstable’s second home game of the Easter weekend.

Whitstable began the game brightly, winning four corners inside the first five minutes, but Deal survived the early pressure and gradually got themselves into the game, sending over a couple of dangerous crosses. In the 14th minute, Ashley Miller’s cross was headed into the net by Jamie Kennedy, but he had strayed offside. The action went from end to end, although neither team looked much like scoring. Deal had the ball in the net again in the 35th minute, but this time it was ruled out for a clear push on Will Thomas and they then went close from their third corner of the half when Wes Hennessey and Rory Smith both had shots blocked when the ball came into the box. It was Whitstable though that opened the scoring in the 40th minute with some good football as Mikey Dalton and Josh Oliver combined on the right to find Liam Gillies and his pass was collected by Emmanuel Oloyede who turned neatly past two defenders before firing the ball past Adam Molloy. The Whitstable defence had to be reshuffled when Gray suffered an injury and had to go off just before the break and Deal soon took advantage in the time added on when a Rory Smith cross was headed down by Kennedy and an unmarked Hennessey found the top corner from 8 yards to send the teams into half time all square at 1-1.

It took only a few minutes of the second half for Whitstable to get themselves ahead for the second time. Josh Williams made a great run down the left before his shot was deflected for a corner on the right that Dalton swung in and Harvey Smith found the space to head into the far corner in the 51st minute. Hennessey got himself into a shooting position on the right, but shot just past the far post. Deal did however equalise once more in the 57th minute when the second of two corner kicks was headed in by Billy Munday. Whitstable almost scored again immediately when another Dalton corner was stabbed just wide by Harvey Smith at the far post, but they then suffered another major injury blow. Tom Mills appeared to be caught by a late challenge as he cleared the ball, but although the referee allowed play to continue, the Whitstable captain could not, and after being treated on the pitch, had to be helped off. This left an unusual looking back four with winger Tyler Anderson coming on at right back and Jake Mackenzie taking the armband before moving to the centre of defence alongside Thomas, with Reece Gillies at left back. Both managers made further changes and James Jeffrey was introduced for Whitstable, but wasn’t on for long! He chased a ball out for a Whitstable throw, but got into a shirt pulling contest with Ben Chapman who went down as they parted and the referee flashed a red card for violent conduct that did look somewhat harsh, but nevertheless meant a very brief appearance and left Whitstable to play the remainder of the game with ten.

Miller had a shot deflected wide and Munday headed the corner over the top as the momentum unsurprisingly swung towards Deal, but the remaining Whitstable players worked really hard to stay in the game and it looked like they were going to earn a deserved share of the points, but just as the board was held up for six added minutes, Deal found the winner. Mackenzie looked to have been fouled as Deal tried to break down the left, but the referee did not agree and when the ball came into the box, a couple of efforts were blocked, but the ball rolled out to Miller who managed to shoot low through a packed area and into the net. Whitstable threw everything forward in the closing moments, but despite some late pressure the Deal defence held firm for a 3-2 win that moved them a step closer to the title and sparked celebrations with the significant number of their fans that had made the trip.

There are just four games now remaining for Whitstable this season and the next is another at home against Sutton Athletic on Saturday, by when hopefully some of the injuries will have improved.

Whitstable	Data	Deal
2	Shots on target	3
2	Shots off target	5
2	Shots blocked	5
7	Corners	8
10	Fouls conceded	9
2	Offside	1
0	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Jordan Perrin, Jake Mackenzie, Will Thomas, Mikey Dalton, Ollie Gray (Harvey Smith 45+1), Will Thomas, Tom Mills (c) (Tyler Anderson 62), Josh Oliver (James Jeffrey 69), Liam Gillies, Emmanuel Oloyede, Reece Gillies (Manny Cuttress 90+2), Josh Williams.
Sub (unused): Dan Eason
Goals: Emmanuel Oloyede 40, Harvey Smith 51.
Yellow cards: Josh Oliver 11, Reece Gillies 48, Tyler Anderson 76.
Red card: James Jeffrey 70

Deal Town
Adam Molloy, Max Niblett, Jack Penny, Wes Hennessey, Alfie Foster (Liam Hark 86), Billy Munday, Ashley Miller, Macauley Murray (c), Jamie Kennedy (Alex Smith 90+2), Ben Chapman, Rory Smith (Josh Byford 68).
Subs (unused): Aaron Millbank, Joe Reeves.
Goals: Wes Hennessey 45+3, Billy Munday 57, Ashley Miller 90+1.
Yellow cards: Wes Hennessey 13, Josh Byford 84, Jack Penny 90+5.

Attendance: 715
Referee: Kieran Cox
Assistants: Bradley Godden & Mitchell Bush