Whitstable Town 4 Canterbury City 2 match report: Oystermen claim first home league win under manager Marcel Nimani in six-goal Southern Counties East Premier Division match

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. Full-back Bleu Landau challenged Aiyelabola who had cut off the left and went to ground, only for referee Kieran Cox to dismiss the appeals.

Moments later, young striker Archie Hatcher went down in the Oystermen’s penalty box. Once again, though, Mr Cox was unmoved.

Whitstable goalkeeper Dan Eason made his first save with 15 minutes played to deny left-back Nico Cotton.

Midfielder Gillies then tried his luck, his long-range drive going over, before midfielder Aiyelabola sent a free-kick narrowly wide on 21 minutes.

Nimani’s men appeared to have found some rhythm and Rodney Eruotor cut off the right flank in the 26th minute before he missed the target.

Just before the half-hour mark, however, a bad error by Eason proved costly and allowed Canterbury to break the deadlock. Even Arnold couldn’t believe his luck when he let fly with what looked like a fairly tame shot. But the ball - somehow - squirmed under the experienced shot-stopper to