Marcel Nimani will not underestimate Whitstable’s opponents ahead of a busy seven-day period for them.

The Oystermen are at home to second-bottom K Sports this Saturday, followed by Wednesday’s trip to Holmesdale before welcoming Lordswood to The Belmont next weekend.

Whitstable’s hopes of finishing in the top two of the Southern Counties East Premier Division are all but over after they lost 2-1 at high-flying Phoenix Sports last weekend.

They have played more league games than most of the teams above them as they head into the final 10 fixtures.

Boss Nimani said: “We have got a tough seven days coming up.

“We have games Saturday, Wednesday and then play at home next Saturday again.

“It’s been a tough month, really. We had four games in February and three were away.

“Now, we’re hoping to pick up a little bit better consistency in terms of results.

“We have a very exciting game on Saturday against a good footballing side but I feel this is the wrong time to be playing teams at the bottom of the league.

“They go through a recruitment phase and the bottom teams become stronger than they were.

"So we’re very aware of the teams that we’re playing below us.”

K Sports lost 4-0 at home to Rusthall on Saturday.

But Nimani noted: “They’re a side recruited on 3G.

"I’m sure they will relish playing on our home turf so we need to make sure we’re very organised.”

Nimani felt two key decisions went against his men in their loss at Phoenix.

A Ryan Hayes penalty halted a bright start by Whitstable, with the spot-kick controversially awarded for a foul by skipper Tom Mills on Tashi-Jay Kwayie, who then made it 2-0.

Midfielder Liam Gillies was sin-binned in the 37th minute but substitute James Jeffrey got the Oystermen back in it, 16 minutes from time.

The final talking point came in the 86th minute when winger Jefferson Aibangbee shot through a packed area, only to see his shot strike the far post.

Midfielder Helge Orome and Jeffrey followed in and Orome nudged the ball towards the empty net. It appeared to be helped over the line by Jeffrey and, after some discussion between the officials, the effort was adjudged offside.

“I felt two huge decisions went against us,” noted Nimani, who also had Mills sent to the sin-bin towards the end.

“I’ve watched it on Veo [video footage] now so I’m talking facts.

“The decisions were the key factors that I felt went against us. Having said that, I felt they were composed in our box and experienced in their box.

“They’re very strong in their patterns of play and I can see why they’re consistent at collecting points.”

And while Nimani was frustrated to see those calls go against them, he had no complaints with his own players’ application.

He said: “As a manager, all you can ask the players to do is execute the tactics you set out. I felt we did that.

“The players worked from the first kick to the last kick.

"That side is positive.”

Midfielder Josh Oliver serves the second game of his two-match ban when Whitstable host K Sports but, other than that, Nimani hopes to have a full squad to choose from.