Forget the FA Trophy and Kent Senior Cup runs, Whitstable assistant boss Steve Nolan insists Saturday’s visit of Tooting & Mitcham is the biggest game of the Oystermen’s season.

Tooting was the scene of perhaps Town’s season’s lowest ebb – a 6-0 defeat in late October – and Nolan and manager Nicky Southall are hoping for a reverse in fortunes to boost Town’s chances of Ryman League, Division 1 South survival.

Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat at Walton Casuals saw Southall’s side squander a 1-0 lead and Nolan admitted the positivity built up by back-to-back wins at the start of the month has long since disappeared.

He said: “We felt good going into this run on the back of those two wins but we knew playing (second-placed) Leatherhead and (leaders) Peacehaven would not be easy.

“We were disappointed not to come away with more points from those two games and then Tuesday, the games caught up with us as we had eight players missing through little
niggles.”

Three straight defeats have drawn Whitstable back into the relegation battle in Division 1 South and with five games left, they sit four points and just two places above the dreaded bottom-three.

Nolan said: “It’s all down to us. We’ll not waste time worrying about what the other teams are doing. We want to try and get the job done and get what we need before April 26.”
Charlie Smith, Jake Mackenzie, Scott Heard, Steve Hafner and Craig Maguire will all be assessed at training on Thursday.

Nolan added: “I arrived on March 1 and this will be the first training session we have had. We’ve been playing Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday ever since."