On the eve of their first foray into FA Trophy action this season, Whitstable Town joint-boss Danny Ward says he would love to emulate the Oystermen’s success of last season.

Town reached the second round proper last season, bowing out 2-1 to Conference South side Ebbsfleet just before Christmas, though then manager Nicky Southall claimed the fixture backlog caused by their money-spinning run contributed to their Ryman League Division 1 South struggles, only reaching safety in the final month of the campaign.

This year’s campaign begins in the preliminary round with the visit of in-form Division 1 North side AFC Sudbury to the Belmont on Saturday.

Ward said: “Trust me, I’ve heard all about the Trophy run from last season. It was a great achievement. It would be fantastic for us to get a good run in the Trophy, of course it would, it’s good for the club financially and (joint-boss Jim and I) have had some great cups runs in the past.

“But the biggest thing this season is that we don’t want to be relegated. Any supporter will tell you that what they want more than anything is to not be looking over their shoulder come Christmastime.”

He added: “We’ve had them watched, they are in great form at the moment and came from 2-0 down to win 6-2 in their county cup on Tuesday. It will be tough but a few years ago Jim and I won the Ryman League Cup against Sudbury so hopefully that’s a good omen.”

Town ended a run of four straight wins in Ryman League Division 1 South at the Belmont with a 2-2 draw against Folkestone on Tuesday, though Ward added: “We had more of the ball and the better chances, but a draw was probably the right result. They were the best team we have played this season.

“We tried some things, a new formation to make us more solid, we have been far too easy to create chances against and score goals against.”

He added: “I think that’s now 39 goals in nine home games this season – if four-and-a-half goals a game is not enough to get people out of the house to come and watch us I don’t know what more we can do.”

Whitstable did suffer a fourth defeat in five away league games, losing 3-1 at Worthing on Saturday, to make it two points from a possible 18 on the road since August.

Ward added: “Some people get over excited about Saturday. Honestly, if you offer people top-eight and 23 points from 15 games before the season started they’d be ripping your arm off. They’d have probably taken those points by Christmas, but because of the start we’ve had people get carried away.”