Whitstable Town were comfortably beaten 4-1 by an excellent Hastings United side at the Pilot Field on Tuesday evening.
Sam Hasler put the hosts ahead before Harry Goodger restored parity for the Oystermen, however Ben Pope’s two successful penalties and Tom Chalmers’ header saw the U’s ease to three important points.
Town travelled down to East Sussex knowing that, whilst the gap on the table was a large one, Hastings had lost their last two at home and had lost popular manager Chris Agutter less than 48 hours ago.
However it was United who started the better, Sam Hasler, absolutely superb in midfield, ran the show and deservedly openend the scoring when Ben Pope laid the ball off and Hasler smashed a left footed strike past Dan Eason after just five minutes.
Whitstable almost levelled immediately, Muhammed Cham ran on to a long ball and saw his shot saved by Louis Rogers and the rebound was sent over the bar by Goodger.
United began to dominate from then with Hasler and Pope combining well on multiple occasions and the pair both forcing Eason in to decent saves.
The Oystermen’s best outlet was down the right wing where Gus Barnes was causing problems, he won a late free kick that resulted in Goodger testing Rogers again but to no avail.
On the stroke of half time Oliver Black came close to doubling the lead but his header came back off the upright.
With their first chance of the half Whitstable levelled, Goodger latched on to a loose ball inside the box and calmly stroked home under pressure from the Hastings defence.
However within a minute the hard work from Keith McMahon’s men was undone, Hasler was fouled inside the box and Pope stepped up to confidently restore the U’s advantage just before the hour.
Soon after it was 3-1, Hasler again with the assist as his corner was nodded home by the impressive Chalmers.
That really knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and from then out it was one way traffic, Chalmers was brought down by Town sub Luca Woodhouse and again Pope made no mistake from the spot.
A fantastic response to a tough week for Hastings, Whitstable can take positives but ultimately it’s an eighth league defeat of the season.
Man of the Match: Sam Hasler.
Hastings United: Louis Rogers, Oliver Black, Ryan Worrall, Craig Stone, Tom Chalmers, Jack Dixon, Ben Pope, Sam Adams, Sam Hasler (Kenny Pogue 80), Marcus Goldsmith (Dave Martin 83), Lanre Azeez (Kane Penn 72).
Scorers: Sam Hasler (5), Ben Pope (57, 77), Tom Chalmers (65).
Whitstable Town: Dan Eason, Jake McKenzie, James Brown, Danny Walder, Ollie Gray (Luke Griffiths 73), Tom Mills (Yellow 45), Gus Barnes, Luke Illsev (Luca Woodhouse 73), Harry Goodger, Tom Carlton, Muhammed Cham (Will Thomas 83).
Scorer: Harry Goodger (55).
Attendance: 790