Craig Tucker

Former Gillingham star Nicky Southall is set to make his Whitstable Town debut in the FA Cup tie at VCD on Saturday.

Boss Justin Luchford insists his side have to win the preliminary round tie after opening their Ryman League Division 1 South campaign with 1-0 and 3-2 defeats against Leatherhead and Maidstone respectively.

Midfielder Southall (pictured) has recovered from a hamstring problem and will go straight into the side.

Luchford wants to turn encouraging performances into results, with Town at home to his former club Horsham on Bank Holiday Monday.

The manager said: "I wouldn’t have thought we’d put in two performances like we have because we weren’t good in pre-season. We’re taking steps and now we have 'Trigger' to come back on Saturday.

"We’ve got to make sure we win at VCD and against Horsham, then we can look at ourselves on Tuesday morning and say ‘right, now we start our season’.

"We’ve watched VCD twice and know how they play."They’re a Kent League side and on the last two showings, we’re a good Ryman League side so the lads need to go there and win – end of story. There are no excuses.

"The expectation is there and I don’t want them feeling sorry for themselves just because we have no points after two games."