Jamie Coyle said Whitstable completely changed the way they play to pull off another FA Cup upset.
Town beat Hungerford 2-0 at The Belmont on Saturday in front of a big home crowd of 971 to reach the FA Cup fourth qualifying round for the first time.
Bradley Schafer’s first-half header and a classy Joe Healy finish booked their place in Monday afternoon’s draw.
Whitstable’s back three, led by captain Will Thomas, defended superbly to leave a big Hungerford side feeding off scraps, while the quality of Schafer and Healy caused plenty of problems in attack.
It was a third successive win over Step 3 opposition for Coyle’s Southern Counties East side and the most comprehensive yet after a change in approach.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said boss Coyle.
“I’m proud of the players.
“Tactically, we’ve had to completely change the way we play because they’re a very physical side.
“We’ve watched all their games this season and we knew we wouldn’t be able to get any joy going direct.
“So we’ve had to play and we’ve had to change our shape.
“The way the players have conducted themselves in the first half, taking on all the information from Thursday, was phenomenal.
“In the second half we’ve had to change a little bit because they were pressing us better and stopping us getting out.
“And the boys, again, they’ve adapted and delivered a fantastic 98-minute performance that I thought they thoroughly deserved to be through.”
It could certainly be considered brave of Whitstable to change the approach that had brought them so much success in reaching the third qualifying round for the first time in 36 years, particularly with so little time to work on it.
But the players executed the game plan to perfection to move within one win of a
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