Whitstable started the new season brightly and Jake Mackenzie gave them a deserved lead, but a Jason Thompson free kick brought Sevenoaks an equaliser and changed the course of the game. Harry Stannard went close to restoring Whitstable’s lead soon after the break, but then Thompson was given the space to fire his second shortly afterwards. Sevenoaks seemed content to close the game down after that, but it needed a great save by their goalkeeper, Ben Bridle-Card to prevent a Jack Miles header giving his team a share of the points.

There was a good crowd of 315 at the Belmont on a fine August afternoon to see league football return after a long, Covid enforced break. Whitstable manager Lloyd Blackman gave debuts to Danny Walder, Tom Carlton and later from the bench, Nico Cotton and George McIlroy made their first appearances. Sevenoaks included a few new faces, also the returning Louis Collins, who spent last season at Dover Athletic. There was a minute’s applause before the kick-off in memory of Mick Gibson, former chairman of Heybridge Swifts and League director.

There was an early sight of goal for the visitors when a corner was volleyed wide by Max Walsh. Whitstable then won a succession of corners and both Carlton and Stannard had shots blocked. Carlton had another attempt blocked as Whitstable enjoyed plenty of possession in the Sevenoaks half. Another Walder corner was put wide by Liam Gillies at the back post. The pressure finally told in the 28th minute when Will Thomas sent Mackenzie away on the right and his ball into the box was only cleared straight back to him on the edge of the area and he cut inside before finding the bottom right corner with a left footed shot. The home defence had been relatively untroubled until Dan Eason had to push a looping header over the bar and the resulting corner was cleared, but some miscommunication led to a free kick being conceded around 25 yards out. Thompson stepped up and curled an unstoppable shot past Eason into the far corner to level the scores in the 39th minute. Aaron Millbank appeared unfortunate to collect a caution just before the interval, when the score remained 1-1.

In the 52nd minute, Whitstable won a free kick 25 yards out when Millbank was fouled and Stannard was unlucky as his shot clipped the top of the near post and went behind. A minute later Sevenoaks took the lead when a long ball sent Danny Divine clear on the right and he rolled the ball back to the edge of the box, where Thompson arrived unmarked to drive the ball into the net. Whitstable had a number of set pieces and from one Walder free kick on the right, a Jack Miles header was somehow kept out by Bridle-Card and the ball was cleared before Thomas was able to prod home the rebound. Millbank fired well over when a corner was nodded down, but after that there were few opportunities at either end as the game saw countless stoppages. A Walder free kick landed on top of the net and a good run by young substitute McIlroy saw his shot from a tight angle saved by Bridle-Card. Millbank turned and shot just wide from distance, whilst Eason saved a couple of shots from Collins. These were rare moments of action in a final half an hour littered with injury delays – the Sevenoaks physio spent over five minutes on the pitch – as well as four cautions and five substitutions. Sevenoaks comfortably saw out the five added minutes to claim maximum points.

There were a number of positive signs for the Whitstable manager, whose team played well at times, particularly in the first half, but he would have been disappointed with the manner of the two goals conceded. Whitstable now move on to a home FA Cup tie against new opponents from Surrey, Alfold, who play in the Southern Combination League Premier Division.

Whitstable	Data	Sevenoaks
3	Shots on target	5
6	Shots off target	2
3	Shots blocked	1
9	Corners	3
13	Fouls conceded	9
0	Offside	2
0	Penalties	0

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Jake Mackenzie, James Brown, Will Thomas (Nico Cotton 75), Jack Miles, Tom Mills, Danny Walder, Liam Gillies, Aaron Millbank, Tom Carlton (George McIlroy 82), Harry Stannard.
Subs (unused): Ryan Flack, Ollie Gray, Ben Harding.
Goal: Jake Mackenzie 28
Yellow cards: Aaron Millbank 41, Jake Mackenzie 70, Tom Mills 90+2.

Sevenoaks Town
Ben Bridle-Card, Danny Divine, Tommy Cooney (Hayden Skerry 86), Charlie Holmes, Joe Tennent, Dean Gunner (c), Max Walsh, Stefan Wright (Bradley Schafer 84), Jason Thompson (Reece Deakin 74), Louis Collins, Emmanuel Dasho.
Subs (unused): Lamin Bah, Dan Parkinson.
Goals: Jason Thompson 39, 53.
Yellow cards: Max Walsh 72, Emmanuel Dasho 79.

Attendance: 315
Referee: Nick Blogg
Assistants: Richard Joss & Jack Luckman

Post match interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QmyQwXnqr8