It was one of those games you get at this stage of the season between two sides battling at the wrong end of a League table.
It was a game that neither side dare lose but in truth partly because of the conditions, it was a game that neither side deserved to win!
After going behind just before the hour mark to James McShane’s wonder strike, Nicky Southall saw his Whitstable side level almost immediately through Micheal Everitt’s powerful header from Jake Beecroft’s free kick. But the Whitstable boss admitted afterwards that in the end the conditions “won” and honours were about even.
Southall said, “I suppose at the end of the day a draw is about right. The conditions were difficult out there today – the pitch was very heavy. But I suppose that a point on the board takes us closer to our target of safety!”
An honest assessment on a game that left both sides still in the division’s bottom four and still with it all to play for especially for Walton Casuals who are now just a solitary point clear of bottom of the table Three Bridges courtesy of the Sussex club’s surprise win at Tooting. For Southall’s Oystermen however there is the genuine belief that another ten points or so from their final nine games of the season should secure their place in the expanded Ryman League Division One South next season.
With the wind increasing in strength and chill factor, the first half won’t be remembered for too long. Indeed the best chance of the half arrived after only two minutes when Casuals keeper Gareth Williams produced a stunning low save to turn James Everitt’s skimming drive round the right post.
Indeed from the corner Laurence Harvey was first to react to a loose ball and his thunderous shot flew inches past the left post. Mu Maan then skied the Casuals best chance of the half – sending Malachi Hudson’s cut back sailing out of the ground, before Michael Smissen was denied by another great Williams save at the other end, and as the ball ran free Dave Raggett was denied by a sensational Luke Elliiott block – the full back somehow getting himself between the ball and the open goal just as Raggett was about to tap home into the empty net.
The second half fortunately was a marked improvement as the game became more and more stretched as the home side upped the tempo in search of breaking the deadlock. James Everitt saw a shot blocked by Harry Hoadley after Harvey had flicked on a free kick before Smissen fired in a shot that deflected and left Williams completely wrong footed as the ball flew past the right post with the keeper moving to the right.
But then McShane picked up the ball just before the hour mark and as the Whitstable defence backed off, the Casuals skipper fired in a screamer from fully 30 yards that left poor Dean Ruddy in the Whitstable goal with no chance at all. Asked if he was disappointed with conceding the goal, Southall said, “How can you defend against a goal like that? The lad probably won’t hit a ball as sweetly as that or score another goal like that for a long long time. But I was very pleased with the way we responded, and was pleased for Mev (Micheal Everitt) as I thought he had a good game.”
The lead was to last a little over a minute, as the manager said, Micheal Everitt was on hand to power home Beecroft’s long free kick from the right leaving Williams this time despairing. The home side really had the momentum now and only a world class save from Williams stopped Scott Heard’s 25 yard drive from flying into the top corner.
Substitute Danny Williams then got in behind the Casuals defence but could only shoot straight at the Walton keeper, and it was the substitute again who was denied by a goal line clearance as a corner wasn’t cleared.
Even in stoppage time the home side had the chance to claim all three points, but Raggett, who’d done well down the right, just didn’t see the unmarked Heard and the chance was gone.
A point each then – a point nearer safety for the Oystermen and they’ll be looking to add three more to their tally when Merstham visit the Belmont on Tuesday night.
WHITSTABLE – Ruddy, Brunt, Crimmen (Cobb), Micheal Evertitt, Harvey, James Everitt, Beecroft, Morrison, Smissen (Williams), Raggett, Heard.
Assistants – Craig Pullen & Richard Carter