Craig Coles has praised the work conducted by one of Whitstable’s unsung heroes.

An excellent run-in has seen the Oystermen end the Southern Counties East League Premier Division campaign well after an indifferent start to boss Marcel Nimani’s rein, following his appointment in mid-October.

Thanks to the work of analyst Ben Maci, No.2 Coles and Nimani have a good idea of what they’ll need to do to ensure promotion next time around after their fifth-placed finish.

Coles said: “He’s a fantastic guy and does really good work.

“It goes unnoticed actually because he keeps himself to himself. But he does some fantastic work for the boys and also for us as well.

“Prior to us coming in, we were averaging 1.2 or 1.3 points per game.

“We already know to get out of the league - to win it or, next season to get into the play-offs - you’re going to need at least two points per game. We’ve averaged just under that since we’ve come in.

“It’s been positive and we’re getting better and better.

“We’ve brought the right players into the club and we’re playing good football, and getting results against the top teams.

“It can only be positive.”

Whitstable had a campaign-ending 2-2 draw against Welling Town, who just about avoided relegation, last weekend.

Frontman Dean Grant got both of their goals.

Coles said: “He’s been fantastic since we’ve come in.

“We were lucky we got to work with him last year at Sheppey and, obviously, he had already moved over to Whitstable before we had.

“Dean’s been a great person to have in the changing room. He always sets the standards and conducts himself really well.

“A lot of the younger boys do look up to him.

“It’s nice to have someone like that, who’s been around and done it for so many years, for some of the boys to look up to.”

A run of only a single defeat in their final 10 matches of the season, including six wins, saw Nimani’s troops enjoy a strong finish.

Coles explained: “The biggest thing myself and Marcel said is we wanted to build for next season.

“The only way to do that was to put the performances in and get the results against, probably, the bigger teams and the better teams.

“In that sense, we wanted us and the boys to prove themselves. They’re good enough and they can do it and, for me, that’s sort of shown over the last probably 10 games or so.

“We’re just looking to build on that for next year now.”

It wasn’t the best of finishes to the campaign for Whitstable against Welling Town, who play at Chatham’s Maidstone Road.

Coles reflected: “I think they went out to not lose the game.

“They made six or seven changes from the game before against Kennington, so we knew it was going to be a different side that we were going to play against. They had some really good individuals.

“I suppose it was one of those end-of-season games.

“We didn’t want it to be like that but it just sort of ended up being a bit of a nothing game, really, which was a little bit frustrating on our part because we wanted to go out with a win.”

The club’s awards evening will be at The Belmont this Saturday.