The last time Whitstable visited Hastings, for the final match before the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, they were perhaps unlucky to lose 2-1 as Ben Pope scored two second half penalties to turn the game around. This time, although they were well beaten in the end, a little bit of history repeated itself as Pope fired two more penalties past Dan Eason. Hastings dominated the early stages, but only led by a Sam Hasler strike at half time. Whitstable had slowly settled and Harry Goodger equalised early in the second half. Their joy was short lived however, as they conceded a disputed penalty soon afterwards. A few minutes after Pope had put his team back in front from the spot, Tom Chalmers, arguably their best player on the night, headed in a corner. Pope completed the scoring with his second penalty after Chalmers was fouled to send the majority of the 790 crowd home happy.

It was a cold evening on the south coast and a Whitstable team in transition arrived looking for some valuable league points. Manager Keith McMahon introduced two new faces, as Luke Illsley started in midfield and Luca Woodhouse, a promising young midfielder on dual registration from Tonbridge was on the bench. Assistant manager Andrew Brown took charge of Hastings, following the resignation of their popular manager Chris Agutter this week. They had lost their last couple of games, so were hoping to return to winning ways to strengthen their promotion push.

There was an early scare for Whitstable when a Hasler corner was headed across goal by Craig Stone and the outstretched leg of Chalmers diverted the ball up onto the bar. The Kent side had not started well and found themselves behind in the 8th minute when a long pass down the left was collected by Pope who played the ball back for Hasler to control and shoot past Eason into the far corner. There was almost an unexpected equaliser just a minute later as a cross field pass by Danny Walder found Muhammed Cham on the left and his first touch took him past his marker and into the box, but Louis Rogers was out quickly to make a good block and Goodger lifted the rebound over the bar. The action soon returned to the other end and another Hasler shot was deflected behind for a corner, then Eason saved shots from Chalmers and Pope. Chalmers next broke through following a one-two, but Eason was out to deny him a chance to shoot. Whitstable did start to see more of the ball midway through the half and when Gus Barnes was fouled on the right, Goodger got his head to the free kick, but it was deflected for a corner which resulted in another Goodger effort being blocked. Hastings then had a header cleared away by the Whitstable defence and Walder did well to block another Hasler shot. A few minutes before the break, Chalmers crossed to an unmarked Sam Adams, but he fluffed his shot, much to his frustration. The final opportunity of the half came after Tom Mills collected the only caution of the game for a foul and Hasler’s free kick was headed fractionally wide by Ollie Black.

Whitstable would have been quite relieved find themselves trailing by a single goal at the break and the second half began quietly. Cham nearly managed to latch onto a through ball by Walder and Hasler dragged a long range shot wide, then in the 55th minute Whitstable were back level at 1-1. After winning possession, in their own half, the ball was eventually worked to Tom Carlton, who clipped it towards Barnes in the box and an attempted clearance by Black fell to Goodger and he took the ball around the defender before firing past Rogers. Hastings were soon back in front though when Pope dribbled past a couple of defenders in the box before going down, although referee Kirsty Dowle decided there was insufficient contact to award a penalty, but as the loose ball was played across to Hasler, he also ended up on the deck when challenged by James Brown and although there appeared less contact than before, this time the referee pointed to the spot, much to the surprise of the players in yellow. Pope kept calm during the protests and powered the ball past Eason. The game was all but decided in the 65th minute when a Ryan Worrall shot was saved and the resulting corner by Hasler was headed home by Chalmers. The industrious Barnes skipped down the right and delivered a low cross, but nobody was able to get on to it, then Eason cleared the ball straight to Hasler who shot into the side netting. Following a series of substitutions that left Whitstable with a back three, Chalmers looked increasingly threatening on the left and another run into the area ended when he was fouled from behind by Luke Griffiths and Pope buried his second penalty on 77 minutes. There was little further meaningful action, although there were a few promising signs from Woodhouse on his first introduction from the bench, and Hastings coasted to a comfortable 4-1 win.

Another awayday in Sussex is next, as Whitstable make the long trip to Chichester on Saturday, hoping to improve on their recent 4-0 defeat there in the FA Trophy.

Hastings	Data	Whitstable
10	Shots on target	2
8	Shots off target	2
2	Shots blocked	2
7	Corners	2
6	Fouls conceded	7
2	Offside	2
2	Penalties	0

Hastings United
Louis Rogers, Ollie Black, Ryan Worrall, Craig Stone, Tom Chalmers, Jack Dixon, Ben Pope, Sam Adams (c), Sam Hasler (Kenny Pogue 80), Marcus Goldsmith (Dave Martin 83), Lanre Azeez (Kane Penn 73).
Subs (unused): James Hull, Freddie Legg.
Goals: Sam Hasler 8, Ben Pope 58 (pen), 77 (pen), Tom Chalmers 65.

Whitstable Town
Dan Eason, Jake Mackenzie, James Brown, Danny Walder, Ollie Gray (Luke Griffiths 73), Tom Mills (c), Gus Barnes, Luke Illsley (Luca Woodhouse 73), Harry Goodger, Tom Carlton, Muhammed Cham (Will Thomas 83).
Sub (unused): Montrell Deslandes
Goal: Harry Goodger 55
Yellow card: Tom Mills 45

Attendance: 790
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
Assistants: Joshua Langley-Fineing & Marcin Indyk