A thrilling encounter saw Whitstable beat hard-working basement boys Canterbury City on Tuesday to earn manager Marcel Nimani’s first home win with the club.
City opened the scoring in the first period of the Southern Counties East fixture through Henry Arnold but goals by on-loan Gillingham man Ronald Sithole and Victor Aiyelabola saw the hosts lead at half-time.
The away side, managed by Ada Gower, levelled through Seb Rowland after the restart, only for efforts by Harry Gamble and substitute Josh Oliver to prove decisive in the 4-2 success despite Liam Gillies’ missed penalty.
Canterbury made a bright start on the artificial surface at The Belmont but there was little early goalmouth action. The hosts felt they should have been awarded an 11th-minute penalty as the derby sprung to life.