The aim for Whitstable Town is to keep within touching distance of the sides in the Bostik South East play-offs, according to manager Scott Porter.

Whitstable are currently eighth in the table and are five points off Hythe Town in fifth.

They face a tough test on Saturday when they travel to second place Hastings United who have won nine of their 11 games.

Porter said: “We want to be in touch with them. We do not want to be six points off at Christmas. We want to be one win away and stay there.

“There are some very good teams up there and we will have to be at our very best every week.

“Hastings are right up there and they have brought in some decent players. It will be a tough test for us and we will go there with a game plan.

“The main thing is to keep winning football matches. We have won three on the trot now and it has been a good reaction from the boys in the last week.”

Whitstable bounced back from four successive defeats to win three games in the space of seven days.

One of those wins was against Sittingbourne on Saturday and Porter believes it was an important win.

He said: “Saturday was a big game for us as we want to keep up with people in the play-offs.

“It was massively important to get the league form back on track and we played really well, especially for the first half hour.

“We went on to win it with a great team goal. We hit the post as well so we could have made it a bit easier for ourselves.

“The boys showed a lot of character and passion as it is a tough place to go.”

They followed this up by winning in the third round of the Velocity Trophy and kept their momentum going.

Porter added: “They were a good side with a good manager. We could have been more goals ahead at half-time but to get the winner at the end was pleasing.

“Steve Smith got a great hat-trick. The squad was stretched on Tuesday but everyone who I brought in put a shift in for me.

“Hopefully we can get a home draw in the next round.”