Whitstable Town boss Jamie Coyle on club’s support during 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Wealdstone and league focus ahead of trips to Erith & Belvedere and Snodland Town

Manager Jamie Coyle praised Whitstable’s fans after their heavy FA Cup defeat on Saturday.

The promotion-chasing Southern Counties East League Premier Division side were always faced with an enormous task against National League Wealdstone in their fourth qualifying round tie.

Trailing 5-0 to Sam Cox’s troops inside 40 minutes, things looked bleak for the Oystermen.

But Whitstable, who had progressed through five rounds to reach this stage, upsetting three Step 3 teams, halted the home scoring after the restart and even struck themselves when forward Dean Grant netted as it ended 5-1 at Grosvenor Vale.

Coyle said: “The fact we had 300 home fans clapping us off at the end of the game just shows how far we have come this year in the cup.

“I’ve never known an away support stick behind a team that are 5-0 down at half-time, like they did do on Saturday, throughout my whole football career.

“That’s a massive statement in terms of what we have created at the football club and how much the fans are behind us and the squad.

"That was a really promising sign that they didn’t stop singing and getting behind the boys.

“To be 5-0 down that early in the first half, and to still have that backing from your support, that’s fantastic. It was a proud moment, seeing the home and away fans getting behind us and giving us a really good round of applause.

“It shows how well our boys have done.”

While it spectacularly back-fired inside the first 40 minutes in front of a crowd of 1,152, Coyle explained why he had maintained the Oystermen’s front-foot mentality at Wealdstone.

He said: “When you go into these games as a coach, you do one of two things.

“You basically shut up shop, sit behind the ball and you hope for the best, and you make it a