After playing an integral part in getting Whitstable Town to Wembley this weekend, midfielder Mikey Dalton will be looking to cap off a memorable season with a national trophy. 

Dalton, whose previous clubs include Chatham Town and Phoenix Sports will line up on Sunday for the Oystermen against AFC Whyteleafe from the Combined Counties League looking for silverware.

KSN were invited to the Belmont for the side penultimate training session and Dalton told us, “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. The closer we get to the occasion I’m sure it well, but I don’t think it will till we first walk through the tunnel on Sunday when we first get there that it will sink in what we have achieved and how far we have come this year!” 

“We have made quite a lot of tweaks during the season, and we have found a way to grind out if we are not playing well to get through games when it’s not been pretty and do what we need to do to get a result out of a game and in the last twenty to twenty-five games we have lost one game in open play, and from the start of the season we had when lost a number in a row, it really is a massive plus.

“I think at Christmas we were thirteenth, and we set ourselves a target of number of points we needed to get into the Play Offs which we smashed out of the park with our unbeaten run.

“We have a fantastic changing room and there is a massive level of belief in there, everyone gets on and everyone believes that anyone who plays on the day will come in and do a job.

“Everyone is going to work their socks off and its credit to Coylie and Matt (manager Jamie Coyle and his assistant Matt Longhurst) for assembling the squad and setting us up as we as everyone has bought into it!” 

Dalton played under Kevin Hake at Chatham and Steve Boyle at Phoenix and we asked him to compare this Whitstable side to those sides where he was successful. “I’ve been lucky to play for three very successful managers,” Dalton agreed.

“Kev speaks for itself at Chatham and the trajectory that they are going on; Boylie has a proven track record of getting promoted and winning Leagues, and obviously Jamie speaks for itself in the levels that he has played and managed at. They don’t have all the same style of football although all work incredibly hard in terms of preparing for training and for games to have their squads as prepared as they can.” 

“I got injured in pre-season which had me miss the first three, three-and-a-half months which left me in a “boot”, and I’ve been fortunate to have been injured since which has allowed me to get into and stay in the team.” 

Paying tribute to the supporter’s part in the Oystermen reaching the Final, Dalton said, “I think we have been fortunate that we have had a few ties at home as we have a fantastic fan base and they do make a massive difference.

“To get the home-tie first in the Semi-Final did not make us win, but we got off to such a quick start, they were the twelfth man and always behind us and pushing us to go again. And in the last eight we were two goals down, and we had them to pull us through.” 

“The supporters are going to be massive on Sunday. It’s a fantastic number of people who are travelling and I think it’s the talk of the town at the moment!

“Everywhere I go, there is someone who is or knows someone who is going – at work today, someone said to me that a friend of theirs is going – its mad, it really is! It’s amazing the support that Town is giving is; Wembley has had to open the extra tier to accommodate our fans… amazing, something you dream of as a kid!” 

“I haven’t even been to the stadium that often although I was fortunate enough to go to the Semi-Final’s of the Euros against Denmark just after COVID! Thats my main memory of the place – I haven’t been too many times!” 

“There are two elements to Sunday as far as I’m concerned. One is enjoying it once we are there in terms of taking in everything – the pitch, the stadium etc. – but once the first whistle goes, we are not there to make up the numbers, we are there to win and there is still a job to do. We must remember that if at the end of the day, we lose.”