On Sunday, Whitstable Town lock horns with AFC Whyteleafe in the FA Vase final at Wembley.

To get this far, Whitstable started with an away game in the first qualifying round and found themselves one down to Corinthian-Casuals at the break. Josh Oliver levelled and Harvey Smith scored a late hat-trick to ease them home. 

Mike West then scored the only goal as the Oystermen hosted and beat Hollands and Blair in the second qualifying round. Another one-nil home win saw off Virginia Water, with Oliver the scorer in round one.

They hosted Lydd Town in the second round and Smith put them ahead but the visitors levelled midway through the second half. A shoot-out looked on the cards but an own goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time saw Whitstable through.

Again, they were at home in the third round when beating Jersey Bulls two-one. They were one down until six minutes remained when Oliver levelled from the spot. Two minutes later, Nico Grierson scored to send Jamie Coyle’s team through, and on to a trip to Walsham Le Willows. On this occasion they got a taste of their own medicine when conceding a late equaliser to Ronald Sithole’s opener. They held their nerve, though, and went through on penalties. 

Once more they were at home in their last sixteen match when they hosted Fleet Town. There were no goals in the first half, and it looked like plain sailing when Jayden Boulton and Mikey Dalton put them two up early in the second period. However, Fleet pulled one back with just over fifteen minutes remaining to give Whitstable a nervy ending to the match.

Their run looked in jeopardy when they went two down at home to Whitchurch Alport in the quarter finals. However Sithole and Nathan Jeche brought the scores level and Smith won it for the Oystermen when scoring late when first to the rebound after his penalty had been saved.

Nearly three thousand spectators crammed into their Primcura Healthcare Stadium for their semi-final first leg against Hartpury University. Jeche put the Oystermen ahead in the eleventh minute and Finn O’Mara scored a crucial second to take to the return fixture. That match ended goal-less sending Whitstable to Wembley.

As is so often the case in Non-League football, success in cups results in a backlog of fixtures and Whitstable had to cram in seven matches in fifteen days. Incredibly, they remained unbeaten from mid January until their play-off match with Fisher. Jake McIntyre put them ahead early in the second half but they conceded a last minute equaliser then their promotion campaign was ended in a penalty shoot-out.

Now, well rested, Whitstable manager Jamie Coyle will want his team to use the hurt of losing the shoot-out to spur them on to victory at Wembley.