Whitstable Town joint-manager Danny Ward has asked the club’s supporters to be patient while he and his brother Jim build a new team at The Belmont.

Whitstable have slipped to 12th in the Ryman League Division 1 South table following last Saturday’s 4-3 home defeat by Guernsey, after being sixth in early October.

The Oystermen have recorded only two wins in their last 14 matches in league and cup, and Ward admitted: “People are panicking a bit but sometimes you’ve got to be patient, especially when you remember that we started the season with only a couple of players.

“Don’t get me wrong, I want to win every game, but we are building a team for next season and some people aren’t quite understanding that.”

Ward insists there were plenty of encouraging signs against Guernsey despite the result.

He said: “If you score three goals at home you expect to win. Apart from a couple of mistakes, we played some excellent football.

"We had two centre-halves missing in Ollie Gray (hamstring) and Luke Doherty (suspended), which doesn’t help with the small squad we’ve got.”

Although Gray is likely to be sidelined for the Christmas programme Doherty is available again, after completing his ban, for this Saturday’s trip to Reigate based South Park.