Whitstable progressed to the second qualifying round of the FA Vase, comfortably enough in the end, although they had to come from behind after Ryan Murad gave Corinthian-Casuals the lead in a relatively quiet first half. Once Josh Oliver had equalised ten minutes after the break, Whitstable generally looked the more likely winners, but it needed a late hat trick by Harvey Smith, with three goals inside fourteen minutes, to secure their place in the next round.

These two teams were rivals in the Isthmian League not so many years ago, but since then have had very different journeys to now both be competing at Step 5 and in the FA Vase. The famous old Corinthian-Casuals club recently enjoyed some successful seasons and played at Step 3 before suffering two consecutive relegations and now find themselves in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South, where they have won one and lost two of the opening three games. Whitstable were hoping to build on their first win of the season at Lydd in the previous match and fielded two new signings, Archie Hatcher, on loan from Dover Athletic, and Zack Jobe from Ramsgate. Ben Cheklit, who played a few games for Whitstable last season, was on the bench for the home team.

The match kicked off in the rain that had fallen heavily for much of the day and after the hosts had hit the side netting with an early attack, Whitstable thought they had scored in the 7th minute when Hatcher played a nice pass through to Harvey Smith who found the net, only to be denied by a questionable offside flag. Jerson Dos Santos had an effort blocked before an injury to Diogo Da Silva forced Casuals into an early change, with Cheklit coming on in the 19th minute. The substitute was soon involved as he slipped past two Whitstable defenders to collect a through ball on the right and although Will Thomas managed to block his shot, the ball deflected to Ryan Murad who made no mistake at the far post to open the scoring in the 21st minute. The teams largely cancelled each other out for the remainder of the half, but Casuals lost their goal scorer to injury in the 41st minute, then it was their turn to have an effort ruled out when the ball was played up to Raf Barbosa who laid it back for Shea Cascoe-Rogers to beat Dan Colmer from the edge of the box, but Barbosa had already been flagged offside, so the score remained 1-0 at half time.

Smith fired wide and Reyon Dillon lifted a shot over the bar following a promising run before Whitstable levelled the scores in the 55th minute. Hatcher played a clever pass through to Josh Oliver whose initial shot was well saved by Murillo Bernardes, but the ball looped up and Oliver managed to head it into the net. That seemed to deflate the home team and Whitstable played with more energy and their goal was subsequently rarely threatened. Hatcher shot over before Cheklit drove a long range effort wide of the far post. A misdirected pass in midfield by Casuals gifted Smith a chance, but he lobbed the ball just over the top, then Whitstable failed to convert a low cross by Hatcher. Whitstable did have the ball in the net again in the 74th minute, but it was another victim of the unusually high number of eleven offside decisions against them.

Jobe replaced Oliver in the 77th minute and when Karn Miller-Neave found him with a diagonal ball out to the right, he rolled it back for Smith to fire in from 18 yards and give his team the lead in the 80th minute. Casuals made a couple more changes, but after a delay as there seemed to be a mix up with some of their shirt numbers. Whitstable added a third in the 88th minute following a free kick on the right and some neat passing between Hatcher, Jobe and Fin Cotton that gave Jobe the chance to pick out Smith who poked the ball into the far corner. There was a little spot of wrestling on 90 minutes between Jake McIntyre and Dillon, who received the game’s only two yellow cards, before Cheklit’s free kick was headed wide by Tommy Castelo. The last meaningful action of the afternoon saw Smith get his fourteen minute hat trick when a poor ball out of defence went to Jobe who passed to late substitute Mitch Chapman and he found an unmarked Smith who stroked the ball home to make it 4-1 and claim the match ball. Whitstable’s next Vase opponents will be Hollands and Blair who beat AFC Varndenians 3-0 and will visit the Belmont on September 21st.

Meanwhile, Whitstable will be hoping for more of the same on Bank Holiday Monday, which sees a quick return to league action and a big local derby against Faversham Town at the Belmont.

Cor-Casuals	Data	Whitstable
1	Shots on target	5
6	Shots off target	6
1	Shots blocked	1
0	Corners	1
7	Fouls conceded	8
1	Offside	11
0	Penalties	0

Corinthian-Casuals
Murillo Bernardes, Jonathon Gjoshe, Emerson Pilonetto, Hakeem Adelakun (c), Tommy Castelo, Marcos Dos Santos, Shea Cascoe-Rogers (Dejarhn Grant 56), Jenson Allchurch (Diego Saciloto 81), Raf Barbosa (Kai Zini 81), Diogo Da Silva (Ben Cheklit 19), Ryan Murad (Reyon Dillon 41).
Subs (unused): none
Goal: Ryan Murad 21
Yellow card: Reyon Dillon 90

Whitstable Town
Daniel Colmer, Jerald Aboagye, Karn Miller-Neave, Michael West (c), Will Thomas, Jake McIntyre, Josh Oliver (Zack Jobe 77), Fin Cotton, Harvey Smith, Jerson Dos Santos (Jayden Boulton 65), Archie Hatcher (Mitch Chapman 89).
Subs (unused): Josh Robson, Finn O’Mara.
Goals: Josh Oliver 55, Harvey Smith 80, 88, 90+3.
Yellow card: Jake McIntyre 90

Attendance: 143
Referee: Bruno Marques
Assistants: Herve Heyndrickx & Mikaeel Wozniak