Whitstable Town bid to maintain their unbeaten start to the new Ryman League, Division 1 South season with two matches in three days over the Bank Holiday weekend.

And joint manager Danny Ward says he can’t wait for Monday’s home clash with Ramsgate, one of the Ward brothers’ former clubs.

He said: “Jim and I know all the players there and how they play and it promises to be a cracking local derby. I can honestly say I would have paid to watch the four games we have had so far.

“They have all been excellent matches which could have gone either way and all I need now is for the people of Whitstable to come along on Monday and see for themselves what sort of fare this new team are putting on.”

But before then, Whitstable must negotiate a tricky visit to Redhill, who enjoyed an impressive 3-1 win over title favoutites Hastings United on Tuesday night.

At the same time, Whitstable were being held to a 1-1 draw by Merstham at The Belmont, with Tom Loynes’ first-half goal for the Oystermen being cancelled out by Fabio Sarava’s 55th-minute strike and Ward added: “It was another good match and, as I said to the players afterwards, if they keep giving me everything they’ve got, as they are doing at the moment, then I can’t complain.”

Ward felt last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Guernsey was a good example, saying: “We had to stop at a Gatwick hotel the night before, then get up at 6.30am to catch the plane.
“It’s all loaded in their (Guernsey’s) favour but we were 2-0 up and looking good until we just ran out of legs in the last 10 minutes.”

Ward is hopeful that Ashley Ulph will come through a fitness test on his ankle problem at training tonight (Thursday) to be fit for the trip to Redhill but Aaron James is still away on a school trip.