Whitehawk will be hoping for their first three points of the new season on Saturday when they make the journey to north Kent to face Herne Bay.

After conceding late on in both Isthmian South East fixtures thus far, Jude Macdonald will be hoping his side can get the job done and pick up their first win at the third time of asking at the Safety Net Stadium.

Ahmed Abdulla’s low strike put the Hawks ahead against Sevenoaks Town last weekend, but only for Dan Parkinson to head home an equaliser in the last fifteen minutes to share the spoils at The TerraPura Ground.

The 1-1 draw saw the debut of goalkeeper Mark Smith, who joins the Hawks after leaving Dartford in the summer. Hawks fans will be hoping to see Lucas Rodrigues come back into the starting line up after coming off the bench in the draw having missed the defeat at VCD Athletic due to injury.

Herne Bay come into the game on the back of a 3-0 win at Phoenix Sports last week as they picked up their first points of the campaign. Tushaun-Tyreese Walters opened the scoring in the first half, before stoppage time goals from Zak Ansah and Dean Grant sealed all three points for Ben Smith’s side.

However, the Bay didn’t get their league season off to the start they would’ve wanted after going 4-1 down at home to Whyteleafe. Ryan Gondoh and Omari Hibbert both scored twice in the first half for the visitors, and the hosts didn’t recover with Mobolaji Dawodu pulling a goal back in the second half.

Last season’s meeting between the teams was very one-sided, with Whitehawk running out 5-1 winners at the TerraPura. Duane Ofori-Acheampong scored a hat-trick, with Connor Tighe and Rob Deda also on target in the rout back in September 2019. The return game didn’t take place due the season being cut short due to Covid-19.