FA Vase winners Whitstable Town hit the FA Cup trail for the third time this season on Saturday, but the task facing Jamie Coyle’s Wembley heroes this time being massive underdogs as they face their toughest test yet without doubt! 

After scoring sixteen goals in two away ties so far at Lingfield (scoring seven) and then away at Edgware (netting nine) respectively, Coyle takes his Oystermen literally back to his roots where a young Jamie grew up, they are away to Isthmian Premier Dulwich Hamlet who sit second in the table with only one goal conceded in five games! 

We caught up with the Whitstable boss and he said, “It’s a huge day for everyone involved with the club. We are all really looking forward to the game, going to back to where I grew up and seeing some old faces still involved with the Football Club.”

“It’s a great opportunity for our club and our players to go and showcase what we are about and give a good account of ourselves!” 

“It’s been brilliant so far and we have had a good run which was an aim at the start of the season after our poor display last season in the competition when we lost to Sevenoaks in what was the only tie that we ended up playing twelve months ago.”

“This year has very good obviously, but this is going to be a completely different level this weekend.” 

Indeed, if Whitstable do get past their hosts, it will be the first time that the Oystermen have won into the Second Qualifying Round in sixteen years, but it’s a big task that lies ahead for Coyle and his players.

“They have started really well and only lost their first game on Monday, it’s going to be a tough tie and one that we are really looking forward to – we will go into the game under no pressure being the underdogs, we want to give a good account of ourselves.” 

“It’s been difficult at the start of the season,” Coyle said, “but we were expecting it! There is a huge target on our backs now, we knew that everyone is going to up their games against you.”

“We have to learn to deal with that between now and the end of the season as that will not change whether it’s three points in the League or in Cup games, we will have to match that desire and work ethic. We fell short of that last Saturday at Sutton and got what we deserved in a loss!” 

“Saturday is almost a free hit for us; we want to go and showcase ourselves to a club who are obviously higher than we are. But we believe in the management team in terms of technical and tactical understanding of the game, as well as our individual players that we have and the quality that we have, we can go to Champion Hill and not only make the numbers up, we can make it a real competitive tie!” 

“It’s always nice to pitch yourself at higher levels and Saturday will be a great opportunity for us and it will be a great day out for everyone involved at the Football Club, including the fans who have travelled brilliantly so far this season!”

“It’s a day that we are looking forward to and it’s always nice to put the League “to bed” for a day and look forward to what is a cracking FA Cup tie!”