Not often do two opponents of the same league share the first four letters of their name. Ignore the Manchester’s, Bristol’s and Nottingham’s (feel free to shout any others out), for these two in focus are distant as far as geography goes. Is it significant? Probably not, but it’s still pretty cool.

Anyhow, the Hawks return home from their long travels of last Saturday. Sweeping past the turnoff for tomorrow’s visitors, it was onto Ramsgate that Ross Standen’s cohort journeyed. The bitter wind whipping off the coast, things were not overly toasty. As for the match itself, it was not to be the joyous Saturday Whitehawk had recently been prevalent to. Oh well, there’s always chance for redemption…

Last time out

Punch the CT10 postcode into the sat nav and look at that map zoom out. Over 100 miles of driving, training or (hopefully not) walking to the home of Ramsgate Football Club: Southwood Stadium.

Frenetic was the opening period, Omarr Lawson slapped a smile on the faces of those Sussex sightseers with a clinical strike in the early minutes. Intense was the energy and press adopted by the hosts, they swiftly levelled through Ashley Miller minutes before Callum Peck emphatically shoved his side in front.

Huffing and puffing in the cold Kentish air the momentum swung in favour of the Hawks. That is, until the man in the middle pointed firmly in the direction of the penalty spot. Nathan Stroomberg-Clarke the unlucky culprit; Joshua Ajayi thundered the ball into the top-right corner. Game over. 3-1 it finished, the Hawks’ three game win streak cruelly snapped.

The opposition

Raise the curtain to unveil Whitehawk’s freshest competitors: Whitstable Town. Cozy is this oyster settlement on the sea offering splendid sunsets and Sheppey views, to Sussex they ride on the back of a 6-1 defeat to Dartford on Wednesday in the 2019-20 (not a misprint) Kent Senior Cup Final. Prior to that, though, was a fine performance at Hythe Town. Surprising may it be, it was the first away victory for the ‘Oystermen’ in any competition, and just their second in the league.

Before Saturday’s 3-0 win at Reachfields they had mustered a mere five points from their opening 13 league matches, above only Phoenix Sports who had they had previously scraped past thanks to a single Luke Griffiths strike in mid-October. Languishing in 19th position, Keith McMahon’s outfit will hope to record back-to-back league victories for the first time this season.

A low position in the standings and a small numbers of goals scored tend to be mutually exclusive but, on this occasion, their sixteen league goals matches that of the Hawks. Harry Stannard and Danny Walder each have three in the league, whilst the former has three more spawning from the FA Cup.

Previous meetings

As ever with this chapter, the pandemic ends up swallowing many of the ‘could haves’ and so modern history throws up just the one encounter. Three lost to the lockdowns, the one in question dates back to a smidgen over two years ago as 273 folks witnessed a smooth Whitehawk win that was over long before it had began. Marvin Hamilton and Connor Tighe the names inked onto the scoresheet, the latter would have his brace in the 40th minute as the Hawks cruised to a 3-0 victory.