There was little to cheer the large away following among the crowd of 160 on a cold afternoon at Oakwood as Whitstable slipped tamely to defeat. They did offer some early hope with a bright start, but the game was only a few minutes old when a quick break gave Youssef Bamba the chance to fire VCD ahead. Whitstable rarely threatened, but were perhaps unfortunate to have a Kemo Darboe strike disallowed just before half time. Bamba added a second soon after the restart and only some good saves by Dan Eason and well timed challenges by Tom Mills kept Whitstable in the game. Ben Gorham was credited with a late third when his volley looped over Eason after hitting a defender.

VCD sit just outside the play off places and were looking to get back on course after losing to Burgess Hill in their previous game. Goalkeeper Damian Niemczycki started his second game following an injury to Sam Mott against Three Bridges. Whitstable were without Junior Baker, still recovering from an ankle sprain sustained in the loss to Hastings, while Alex Gaggin returned to the starting eleven to face his former club. The teams had drawn 1-1 at the Belmont back in September in what turned out to be the last game for manager Lloyd Blackman before he resigned.

Whitstable started quite well with a couple of promising runs by Gaggin and an early corner, but VCD took the lead in the 7th minute when Jeff Duah-Kessie collected the ball on the halfway line, spotted the run of Bamba on the left and his pass split the Whitstable defence for the lively Bamba to shoot past Eason. The busy Whitstable goalkeeper was soon in action again, pushing a curling left footed shot by Chris Edwards around the post, then Gaggin got back to clear a Duah-Kessie effort after good work by Bamba. Whitstable created little, although the hard-working Harry Goodger found some space and got his head to a long ball forward, but it was a comfortable save for Niemczycki. On 30 minutes, Ayman El-Mogharbel played a through ball for Duah-Kessie, but Eason came out and gathered at the second attempt. George McIlroy drove forward and tried a shot, but without the power to trouble Niemczycki. Eason saved a header from an unmarked Gorham at the back post following an Edwards corner. Whitstable thought they had found an equaliser in the 37th minute when Jake Mackenzie took a free kick in his own half that was headed on by Goodger to Darboe who took the ball around his marker and shot past Niemczycki, only to be denied by the assistant’s flag, although replays suggested little reason for it being ruled out. VCD were quick to threaten again and Eason had to pull off another great stop to turn away a swerving shot by El-Mogharbel. In added time, a well-timed challenge by Mills ensured Whitstable trailed by just the single goal at the break.

Anthony Adesite broke clear when play restarted, but Eason was out quickly to save. Darboe and Goodger combined to create an opening for Gaggin, who went down when challenged at the edge of the box as he was about to shoot, but the appeals were waved away. Bamba scored his second in the 52nd minute, firing home after being set up by Duah-Kessie, who squared the ball following some good work on the left. Things might have got worse for Whitstable, but Eason saved another Bamba effort before El-Mogharbel shot wide. Eason next saved at the near post from Adesite following a one-two on the right. Both managers made changes, then a Danny Walder free kick was glanced wide. Eason saved another shot by “man of the match” Bamba before Gorham and Darboe were cautioned for a coming together after a foul on the Whitstable number nine. Walder almost caught out Niemczycki from the resulting free kick, but the goalkeeper got across to save. There was a Whitstable debut for Zack Jobe who replaced Darboe in the 79th minute. It was 3-0 and game over in the 84th minute when a corner was kept alive and fed back to the taker Edwards whose cross picked out Gorham at the back post and his first time volley back across goal took a big deflection off Samuel Itauma and dropped over Eason into the net. It summed up Whitstable’s afternoon! A final timely intervention by Mills prevented further damage and the game ended in a comfortable 3-0 home win.

Whitstable will be hoping for a better performance when they take on Sittingbourne at the Belmont on Saturday.

VCD	Data	Whitstable
12	Shots on target	3
5	Shots off target	4
3	Shots blocked	4
11	Corners	3
13	Fouls conceded	10
3	Offside	4
0	Penalties	0

VCD Athletic
Damian Niemczycki, Chris Edwards, Theo McKenzie, Ben Gorham, Kiki Oshilaja, Anthony Adesite, Lea Dawson (c), Jeff Duah-Kessie (Jason Williams 66), Sonny Black, Ayman El-Mogharbel (Courtney Barrington 85), Youssef Bamba.
Subs (unused): Andrew Dythe, Ashley Probets, Charles Etumnu.
Goals: Youssef Bamba 7, 52, Ben Gorham 84.
Yellow card: Ben Gorham 77

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Samuel Itauma, Jake Mackenzie, Danny Walder, Will Thomas, Tom Mills (c), Alex Gaggin (Callum Watts 53), George McIlroy, Kemo Darboe (Zack Jobe 79), Harry Goodger, Montrell Deslandes (Stephen Okoh 67).
Subs (unused): Cameron Chamberlain, Henry Duley.
Yellow card: Kemo Darboe 77

Attendance: 160
Referee: George Warren
Assistants: Nic Hucker & William Donnelly