Whitstable Town goalkeeping coach Dan Eason on predictions he made to former keeper Jordan Perrin, current No.1 Dan Colmer’s impact and challenges of sharing first names with club-mates!

Goalkeeping coach Dan Eason always felt Whitstable could get to a Wembley final this season - just ask Jordan Perrin!

Jamie Coyle’s Southern Counties East Premier Division Oystermen are preparing for the biggest day in the club’s history as they take on AFC Whyteleafe in the FA Vase final this Sunday.

While Whitstable have missed out on promotion - losing on penalties against Fisher in their play-off semi-final - and were beaten in last month’s Kent Senior Trophy final to Larkfield & New Hythe, they have recovered superbly from a slow start to this campaign.

Their early-season form wasn’t helped by a late change in goal as Perrin departed to reunite with former manager Marcel Nimani with Sevenoaks last summer.

But Eason revealed: “I’ve known Jordan for a while, anyway. We had a phone call before the season where he didn’t know what he was doing because he wanted to play higher, like he said when he first came to Whitstable.

“We had a phone call and he was ‘umming’ and ‘ahing’ over what to do. I said to him ‘Well, you never know. We could get to Wembley.’.

“He replied with ‘Yeah, I know but, if that doesn’t happen...’. I have spoken to him and give it to him a little bit.

"But it’s just a bit of banter, isn’t it?”

Perrin’s exit left the Oystermen in need of another goalkeeper and Eason helped recommend Dan Colmer.

It proved an inspired call, with Colmer impressing this term. He starred in Whitstable’s fourth-round FA Vase shoot-out victory at Walsham-le-Willows in January.

“While I was playing, I’d heard quite a lot of good things about Dan,” said Eason, who made more than 300 first-team appearances for the club before he headed into a coaching role in 2023.

“When Jordan wanted to move on - I did tell him we might get to