Whitstable Town manager Lloyd Blackman glad to be back in Isthmian South East action on a Saturday
Published: 06:00, 15 November 2019
Whitstable Town are finally back in weekend action on Saturday.
A postponed trip to Guernsey and a rescheduled home game against Hastings United has seen Town sitting it out over the last two weeks.
The Velocity Trophy has been their only action and boss Lloyd Blackman is looking forward to getting to grips with Whitehawk at the Brighton side’s TerraPura Ground in Isthmian South East.
“If I’m not playing at the weekend then I’m pacing the living room,” said the Town boss.
“I am a creature of habit and whether playing or managing, I get itchy feet if there isn’t a game on Saturday.
“It will be nice to get a game and we’ll be facing a decent Whitehawk team who are in a similar position to us and so it will be tight.”
The cancellation of the Guernsey match might not have been the worst thing in the world.
Blackman was feeling under the weather and some of his players were struck down too, leaving him with just the bare bones for last Tuesday’s Velocity Trophy match against Ramsgate, which they lost 2-0.
“It was a difficult game for us,” Blackman said.
“We lost three players to the dreaded lurgy.
“We lost numbers and that made it difficult.
“We were a bit makeshift. We had to put together a side and asked some players to fill roles they were unfamiliar with and that probably showed in the performance.
“We couldn’t be too critical, but taking the game for what it is, the performance was not what we would expect and Ramsgate deserved the 2-0 win.”
Blackman is expecting an illness free camp for their trip this weekend but, before that, they had another Velocity Trophy group match, against local rivals Herne Bay on Tuesday.
Bay ran out 4-1 winners with a disappointing night for Town being compounded by the sending-off of Tom Bryant.
Commenting about the last weekend off, he said: “Quite possibly it came at a good time and we have had a very busy period and so a bit of rest and recuperation is good.
“We know we have a busy couple of months ahead. Having Saturday off helped to recharge the batteries.”
Read more: All the latest sports news in Kent
More by this author
Luke Cawdell