Whitstable took three points from their opening Easter fixture in this rearranged game against Rusthall. The original game had been controversially abandoned with Whitstable leading 4-1 when the Rusthall goalkeeper suffered a knee injury and play never restarted after half time. This time, a Mikey Dalton penalty put Whitstable ahead in a closely fought first half, but when Emmanuel Oloyede doubled the advantage immediately after the break, Whitstable always looked the more likely winners. James Jeffrey added a third and a very late strike by Jack Kirby was merely a consolation for the visitors.

The teams met for the first time this season in September when two Harvey Smith goals helped Whitstable to a three goal half time lead, but the unfortunate, injured stand-in Rusthall goalkeeper Stefanos Akras then spent over three hours lying on the pitch awaiting an ambulance before the referee called the game off after 5pm. Then, in November, Whitstable won 3-0 in the away fixture at Rusthall who have struggled for most of this season and find themselves with just Welling Town below them at Easter, although they earned a creditable 2-2 draw at Faversham in their most recent game. Whitstable, still with an outside chance of making the play-offs, made one change to the starting eleven from the win at Erith Town, with Josh Oliver starting on the right. Steadman Callender lined up against Whitstable for the second time since leaving, firstly for VCD and now Rusthall. Liam Gillies was presented with an award before the kick-off for recently passing 100 Whitstable appearances.

The game kicked off on a pleasant afternoon in front of 411 spectators and it was Jake Mackenzie who had the first attempt on goal in the 8th minute when he collected a loose clearance and fired the ball just wide from 20 yards. Rusthall had a great chance to take an early lead when Malcolm Dixon played the ball through for Callender, but he was denied by the legs of Jordan Perrin at the expense of a corner and it was Callender who rose to meet the delivery from Jack Kirby and headed just over. Mikey Dalton then shot just over the bar from the edge of the box, but Whitstable won a penalty when Oliver cut into the area from the right and was brought down by Dan Blunn. Dalton struck the spot kick low inside the left post to put his team ahead in the 16th minute. Rusthall almost replied quickly when Callum Taylor outjumped the home defence to head a free kick against the post and watched the ball rebound across goal before being put behind for a corner that led to Kirby hitting a low shot across goal and fractionally wide of the far post.

A promising Whitstable attack saw Mackenzie pick out Oliver in the box and his shot was well saved by Serine Sanneh. A long ball forward by Will Thomas left Emmanuel Oloyede through on goal, but his touch just allowed Sanneh to come out and grab the ball. Oliver then crossed for Harvey Smith who shot just wide from outside the box. The Whitstable manager then made a couple of early changes that left the majority of the crowd puzzled, but James Jeffrey and Ollie Gray were both introduced before half time. The remainder of the half passed with few alarms, as Rusthall pushed forward without finding an end product and the score remained 1-0 to Whitstable at the interval.

Whitstable made the perfect start to the second half when Liam Gillies found Oliver on the right and he went past his marker before firing the ball across the box where Sanneh got a hand to it but it rebounded off Ryan Styles and dropped kindly for Oloyede to poke it into the roof of the net just 25 seconds into the half. Liam Gillies won the ball in the 53rd minute and found Jeffrey who was unlucky when his left footed shot from 25 yards struck the outside of the post. Dixon got free on the right, but his low cross was well cut out by Gray with a timely interception. Oliver tried another shot from the right, but it was saved by Sanneh at the near post. Rusthall continued to seek a route back into the game, with the impressive Kirby looking the most likely to create something and he slipped the ball through for Callender whose shot was saved by Perrin before Tom Mills completed the clearance. In the 66th minute, Kirby was involved again, this time curling his shot just past the far post.

A strong run by Josh Williams got him into the box, but his shot was pushed away by Sanneh. Whitstable did score a third in the 71st minute when Reece Gillies won the ball and found brother Liam who passed to Jeffrey and he went around Sanneh before tucking in his first goal since returning to the club. Both teams made further substitutions and some rather soft yellow cards were handed out. As the 90 minute mark passed, Tyler Anderson made a good run and sent over a dangerous low cross, but no one was there to finish. Rusthall finally grabbed a consolation goal when Kalani Barton made a long run with the ball before passing to an unmarked Kirby on the right and his firm shot from 18 yards ended in the net despite Perrin getting a hand to the ball, but it was a fitting reward for a good performance by the Rusthall number 11. It was Whitstable though that had done enough to secure their third consecutive win and keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

Whitstable face a stiff test on Easter Monday when league leaders Deal Town visit the Belmont. Deal have won their last nine league games and have remained unbeaten in the league since October.

Whitstable	Data	Rusthall
6	Shots on target	3
5	Shots off target	6
1	Shots blocked	4
4	Corners	6
17	Fouls conceded	8
6	Offside	1
1	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Jordan Perrin, Jake Mackenzie, Reece Gillies, Mikey Dalton, Will Thomas (Ollie Gray 39), Tom Mills (c), Josh Oliver, Liam Gillies (Tyler Anderson 72), Emmanuel Oloyede (George Sheminant 68), Harvey Smith (James Jeffrey 34), Josh Williams.
Sub (unused): Dan Eason
Goals: Mikey Dalton (pen) 16, Emmanuel Oloyede 46, James Jeffrey 71.
Yellow cards: Liam Gillies 42, Jake Mackenzie 60, Reece Gillies 80, Josh Oliver 83, Ollie Gray 90.

Rusthall
Serine Sanneh, Malcolm Dixon (Jack Lyons 63), Abdullah Khalil (Dan Watson 72), Dan Blunn, Ryan Styles, Callum Taylor (c) (Frank Little 78), Dylan Riches, Jeffrey Njuguna (Stacey Petrou 78), Steadman Callender, Kalani Barton, Jack Kirby.
Sub (unused): Ben Branch
Goal: Jack Kirby 90+3

Attendance: 411
Referee: Stuart Beadle
Assistants: Mark Takacs & Ryan Cole