At the end of October Whitstable were on a good run of form, having lost only two of their past twelve games and one of those was to a 120th minute goal in an FA Trophy replay at Ware. They have since lost all of their completed games in a disjointed November, which saw two league matches postponed and two lost, together with a couple of defeats in the Velocity Trophy. Rather like the previous game at Whitehawk, this one was effectively lost in a poor first half performance. Antonio Walker-Barth and former Herne Bay striker Ronald Sobowale scored the goals and Whitstable rarely looked like recovering. The better chances for the remainder of the afternoon fell to the visitors, but neither goalkeeper was over extended. The late dismissal of new signing Charles Etumnu simply added to the frustration for the home team.

Whitstable were without captain Tom Bryant, who was serving a one game ban for his red card against Herne Bay and new signing from Cray Wanderers, Charles Etumnu was given his first start in midfield. Freddie Parker’s one month loan was not renewed and by a strange coincidence, he was on the bench for Whyteleafe for this match. Another former Oysterman Peter Wedgeworth was in the starting eleven for Whyteleafe, who started the season well, but had failed to win any of their last five matches.

An early shot by Sobowale was blocked by the stand-in Whitstable captain Liam Dickson at the expense of a corner. Etumnu sent over a good cross from the right that Aaron Millbank headed over under pressure from the Whyteleafe defenders. The home defence was caught out in the 13th minute when the ball was played through for Walker-Barth, who was able to take it wide of Dan Eason and slot it into the net. The closest that Whitstable came to scoring all afternoon was from a corner several minutes later. Liam Gillies swung the ball in from the left and it hit the outside of the post and rebounded all the way back to him and he delivered another cross to the back post where it was headed wide by Josh Spencer. Whyteleafe then sent a long ball forward that was missed by Spencer, giving Sobowale a chance to break clear, but he was stopped by a timely challenge from Dickson.

The second goal arrived in the 21st minute when an overhit cross from the right was collected by Wedgeworth on the far side and he sent the ball in low to the near post where it was neatly flicked past Eason by Sobowale. Corey Holder was perhaps a little fortunate to get away with a yellow card following a high challenge on Jake Mackenzie that eventually led to the Whitstable right back limping out of the game before half time. Sobowale once again ran through the home defence far too easily, but his shot was blocked. There were a couple of late corners for Whyteleafe that were cleared, between which Luke Girt replaced the injured Mackenzie and Whitstable trailed 0-2 at the break.

There was very little excitement for the crowd of 215, the highest in the division on the day, during the second half and the strong Whyteleafe defence dealt relatively comfortably with any threat on an increasingly heavy pitch. The pitch seemed to cause problems for both teams soon after the restart, when firstly a slip by Spencer gave Walker-Barth the chance to run across the box, but just as he took the ball past Eason and was about to shoot, he appeared to lose his footing and Eason was able to grab the ball. Whitstable brought on Harry Stannard and John Ufuah in an attempt to change things, whilst Freddie Parker was one of the three Whyteleafe substitutes used.

Parker had a great chance to score in the 71st minute, when he ran through on his own as Whitstable appealed for offside, but he lost control of the ball and allowed it to roll into the grateful hands of Eason. Stannard struck a free kick into the hands of Tyler McCarthy after Nathan Campbell had been booked for a foul just outside the box. Eason saved a low shot by Helge Orome, who was then involved in an incident with Etumnu, which saw the Whitstable player retaliate following a couple of fouls in quick succession. After consulting his assistant, the referee decided to show red card to Etumnu and a yellow to Orome. A late Wedgeworth shot was saved by Eason and the game ended tamely, with little further action of note.

It was a game to forget for Whitstable, who now face a much changed Faversham team at the Belmont in the last Velocity Trophy group match on Tuesday, followed by a league game away to the same opponents on Saturday.

Whitstable	Data	Whyteleafe
1	Shots on target	5
4	Shots off target	2
0	Shots blocked	2
3	Corners	5
13	Fouls conceded	16
2	Offside	3
0	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Jake Mackenzie (Luke Girt 40), James Brown, Leo Mazzone (John Ufuah 68), Josh Spencer, Liam Dickson (c), Liam Gillies, Tijan Jadama, Aaron Millbank, Charles Etumnu, Marcus Elliott (Harry Stannard 58).
Subs (unused): Connor Sanders, Lewis Mitchell.
Red card: Charles Etumnu 88

Whyteleafe
Tyler McCarthy, Emmanuel Mensah (Helge Orome 71), Corey Holder, Nathan Campbell (c), Jamie McGeoghegan, Ricardo Thompson, Corie Andrews (Martin Sontan 81), Bentley Graham, Ronald Sobowale (Freddie Parker 63), Antonio Walker-Barth, Peter Wedgeworth.
Subs (unused): none
Goals: Antonio Walker-Barth 13, Ronald Sobowale 21.
Yellow cards: Corey Holder 25, Nathan Campbell 75, Helge Orome 88.

Attendance: 215
Referee: Graeme Ions
Assistants: Harry Wager & Josh Smith