Boss Jamie Coyle won’t rush into strengthening Whitstable’s squad - despite the departure of two players.

Coyle has seen defender Finn O’Mara and young forward Archie Hatcher leave The Belmont club. O’Mara has departed for Isthmian Premier Hastings and Hatcher is now plying his trade at Isthmian South East outfit Deal Town.

While the Oystermen will look to replace the duo, Coyle is comfortable enough with the squad he has at his disposal - for now.

“We’re going to have to look at that,” said 41-year-old Coyle, who named himself as an unused substitute for last weekend’s 1-0 FA Vase victory.

“We do have a large squad in terms of numbers but we have lost two of ‘our’ players that could have played in the FA Vase so we need to start pre-planning and thinking about that for a few weeks’ time.

“If we can bring in players to add to the existing squad and they do well, it adds healthy competition. But we have got strength-in-depth already.

“We have Liam Gillies and Reece Gillies, who has been injured, back. That sort of covers for Archie’s position in midfield.

“We have only got Will Thomas and Jake McIntyre as centre-backs, so we might need to bring in someone to replace Finn O’Mara.

“But the last resort is there’s an old manager who might need to get his boots back out to cover in the short term!”

Coyle had mixed emotions on the higher-division switches of ex-Gillingham player O’Mara and Hatcher, who joins the Hoops having been released by Dover. The teenager was on loan with Whitstable Town.

He said: “We have lost two players - one to two levels above and one to a level above.

“It’s a blow to lose them but, at the same time, they have got their confidence back and they’re going to play higher, especially Finn.

“There's no longevity in terms of keeping Archie because he’s going to America for a scholarship at the end of the season. You need to look at that side of it, as well.

“Although we want to keep our best players, there’s always that development side, as well.

“We have had six seven-day approaches in the last week and that just shows, although the league table doesn’t look brilliant, we do have some players performing well.

“It now gives other people a chance to stake their claim - and to keep the shirt.”

On social media, O’Mara wrote: “Just want to say thank you to @whitstabletown, very good club and big future! Good luck to the boys for the rest of the season.”

Whitstable progressed to the FA Vase second round, where they will host rivals Lydd next month, thanks to a 1-0 home win over Virginia Water as midfielder Josh Oliver got the only goal early on.

Coyle reflected: “We were really good.

“We created so many chances to kill the game off but we didn’t take them. Defensively, it was one of our best performances of the season.

“Every chance they had, they threw the ball under the crossbar from the halfway line. It was the biggest throw that I’ve seen since Alex Flisher!

“But the boys, collectively, defended the box really well and got the clean sheet.

“It was an outstanding performance from Josh Oliver.

“He was the best player on the pitch. He worked really hard out of possession and took his goal really well.

"That can only be a positive for us.”

The Oystermen are due to return to league matters at Tunbridge Wells this Saturday, providing the game goes ahead with Steve Ives’ side seeing their FA Vase tie postponed after a failed pitch inspection last weekend.

“It’s always one of the hardest places to go,” noted Coyle.

“There’s no hiding the fact, I would say, their pitch is one of the hardest to play on in the league - hence their FA Vase game being postponed at the weekend. We’ll get to see them on Tuesday (in their rearranged Vase tie, which they won 3-1).

“We can work towards facing them at training on Thursday.

“I believe we’re predicted rain so, if the game does go ahead, it will be a bit of a battle.

“There’s no hiding the fact the preparations will be different this week than they were last week.”