Whitstable Town forward Dean Grant loving working with manager Marcel Nimani after brace in 3-1 win over K Sports

Dean Grant is loving working with Whitstable manager Marcel Nimani again.

The pair enjoyed great success together at quadruple-winning Sheppey last season, frontman Grant scoring the winner as the Ites won the Kent Senior Trophy. Nimani was assistant manager under boss Ernie Batten.

They have since reunited at The Belmont.

While Grant would always prefer to lead the line, such is his respect for Nimani - who took the helm in October - he’s open to playing out wide under him, too.

“My preferred position would always be No.9 up top,” said Grant, who reached the Isthmian League Division 1 South play-off Final and the League Cup Final under then-boss Ray Turner at Faversham in 2016.

“If anyone else had tried to put me on the wing, I would have had a stinker!

“But I started off as a winger. As much as football is changing, that role has never really changed.

“I’m better off not being instructed - not because I know it all, but managers constantly on the sidelines can complicate and confuse things.

“I had a chat with Marcel in the season. As much as I want to play striker, I will be a winger if needed.

“I’ve been quite open with him and that shows the level of the respect I have for him.

"Apart from Ray Turner, I don’t think I’ve respected someone I have worked under as much as Marcel.

“It’s a blessing to work with him at the back-end of my career. But there’s a bit of ‘What if he had been manager or assistant manager when I was in my prime?’.”

Whitstable kept alive their slim hopes of a second-placed Southern Counties East Premier Division finish last weekend with a 3-1 home win over lowly K Sports.

Grant reflected: “We, obviously, need to win to try and hang on to any slender hopes that other teams might slip up. Then we’re