Second half goals from Kane Rowland and Toby Bancroft sealed Sittingbourne a comfortable road win and left Whitstable Town anxiously looking over their shoulders at the bottom of the Southeast division.

But this was a day when football undoubtedly took a back seat as the home side dedicated the day to fourteen-year-old bone cancer sufferer Miles Cornwall and the Teenager Cancer Trust.

Sadly, the game itself didn’t live up too much as in the opening half both sides struggled to get going, and it was only after the break, that the Brickies came to the fore. Skipper Rowland was on hand to bundle the ball over the line after Bancroft had a header well saved and it was Bancroft himself who sealed the win with a free kick from wide on the left that deceived everyone and went straight in.

The first half was curious in the fact that almost nothing happened as neither side got to grips with each other or the gusty conditions. The home side huffed and puffed but Harry Brooks in the Brickies goal wasn’t really put under any pressure as Eman Dasho, and Lex Allan dealt with almost everything the home side was able to muster – which to be honest wasn’t much. 

Not that Sittingbourne troubled Dan Eason in the home goal either but at least the visitors did have a half chance when former Whitstable winger Harry Stannard dragged a shot wide after a good run. On the stroke of half time, Eason was alert to grab an Allan header from underneath the bar in the first attempt on target in the game!

After the break, the home side were forced well and truly onto the back foot as Sittingbourne took the game to them and they duly took the lead on the hour. The returning Neville Rivelino – who was excellent throughout – hurled a long ball into the box where Bancroft got in a really good header. Eason pulled off a terrific save to his left, but as the ball ran free, Rowland pounced sparking scenes of celebration in the travelling support behind the goal.

The lead was very nearly doubled moments later. Bancroft flighted in a terrific corner and Johan Caney-Bryan got up in front of Allan at the far post, but his header clipped the top of the Oystermen’s bar on its way to safety. 

The lead was though doubled shortly afterwards. Sittingbourne were awarded a free kick just in front of the visitors dug out wide on the left, and Bancroft’s angled ball into the home area bounced straight into the corner of the net nestling inside the far post past a scrambling Eason.

The home side will be desperately disappointed that they offered so very little over the ninety minutes as this defeat along with Lancing’s win over Three Bridges now leaves Whitstable outside the bottom two just on goal difference. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, the three points have Sittingbourne just four points short of the Play Off places…

WHITSTABLE TOWN – Eason, Thomas (Deslandes), Itauma, Walder, Miles, Mills, Gaggin (Darboe), McKenzie, Goodger, Diallo (McIlroy), Okoh

Subs – Watts, Jobe

SITTINGBOURNE – Brooks, Rivelino, Fisher, Monger, Dasho, Allan, Stannard (Taylor), Bamba, Rowland, Caney-Bryan (A Flisher), Bancroft (Smith)

Subs – S Flisher, Abubakari

REFEREE – Mr Roque