Whitstable became the first side to do something at Erith Town in the league this season on Saturday.

Marcel Nimani’s team edged to a 1-0 victory against the play-off occupants to keep their own top-five hopes alive.

It completed a Southern Counties East Premier Division double for Whitstable over the
Dockers, having eased to a 2-0 win against Erith at The Belmont on the opening day of the season. They also became the only club so far to keep a clean sheet against Erith at Bayliss Avenue.

Captain Tom Mills said: “We knew it was going to be difficult.

“They’re having a very good season. I think they have surprised a lot of teams.

“Lately, we have been quite solid and not been conceding a lot of goals but we haven’t been scoring many lately, either.

“We’re looking to win all our games for the rest of the season now.

“That was the first league clean sheet at their ground this season (from an opposition
team), so we were well pleased with that.

“Winning there on Saturday was a boost. We needed that.”

It appears a dubious goals panel will be required to determine whether defender Will
Thomas can claim the game’s only goal, which came from a free-kick in the second half.

Mills explained: “It was quite a good ball in from Mickey Dalton.

“I think Will headed it, but it hit someone else and went in. He’s trying to claim it and we’re trying to let him have it, to be honest.

“I’ll let him deal with that one!”

The game also saw forward Emmanuel Oloyede return for the first time since early February although winger Tyler Anderson and defender Ollie Gray missed out through
injury.

“I think he has been injured for a while and had a few things to deal with,” Mills noted of
Oloyede’s absence. “Marcel said to him ‘Whenever you’re ready, you will be welcomed
back’.

“He’s a big presence. He’s not played for a while but he worked his socks off.

“With JJ (James Jeffrey) running off him, I think they can get something going up there.”

Whitstable sit just outside the play-offs, albeit they have played more games than most teams around them.

On their play-off prospects, Mills admitted: “We have made it hard work for ourselves, especially with so many teams having games in hand on us.

“There’s teams like Punjab that have only played 30 games and they’re creeping up. Snodland and Lydd are creeping up, as well.

“I think Deal will run away with it. We just have to concentrate on ourselves.”

The Oystermen have an Easter double-header to look forward to, facing Rusthall this
Saturday in a game which was initially abandoned due to a first-half injury to the away goalkeeper last September.

They then host title-chasing Deal at home on Easter Monday in an eagerly-awaited derby.

“Rusthall are fighting for their lives down there,” said Mills. “They always give us a good game.

“We played them earlier in the season and what happened, happened.

“They’re down there and Welling Town are not far off them. They want to stay up.

“Rusthall drew (2-2) with Faversham on Saturday. They (Faversham) have played as
many games as us. Saturday is pretty much a must-win game.

“Deal, who we have got on Monday, they’re just breezing through.

“They have got so many games, but just seem to keep grinding through.

“We tend to do well against the teams above us. As long as we’re organised, I think we have got a chance. But we have got to be up for the one on Saturday first.

“We can still do it. We just need to take one game at a time.”