Whitstable Town manager Jamie Coyle senses shift in mentality in latter stages of pre-season ahead of season-opener at Sutton Athletic

Boss Jamie Coyle has sensed a mentality shift from Whitstable in the latter stages of pre-season - ahead of the start of the real action.

Coyle’s Oystermen begin their Southern Counties East Premier Division season at Sutton Athletic this Saturday.

It will be a first competitive game at the Whitstable helm for Coyle and No.2 Matt Longhurst, who arrived in late April as part of the club’s new management team alongside goalkeeping coach Dan Eason.

They drew 1-1 at Combined Counties Premier Division South side Redhill last weekend, having been held to a 2-2 stalemate at home to Isthmian Premier team Dover last Tuesday when Bobby Dunn and Michael West struck while attacking midfielder Josh Oliver failed to convert a penalty.

Coyle said: “There’s been a real shift with the mentality.

“Against Dover, at times, we felt the players were going through the motions in terms of trying to not get injured and not putting in their all.

"But we said to the players that you cannot just turn it on and turn it off. We were physical against Dover.

“Even (Whites manager) Jake Leberl said in his interview after the game, we looked like we wanted it more in the end.

"Mentality-wise, we now look like we have got the bit between our teeth a bit more. There’s only 16 places up for grabs on Saturday.

"We can make five substitutions in this league, which is really positive. I’ve never come across that before as a manager or a coach.

“That really allows everyone to put everything on the line. There’s only going to be 11 starters and five on the bench - and we have a big squad.

“We’ll just have to see how this week goes.

“We will then put our heads together, pick our squad and, hopefully, get off to a good start.”

With the big kick-off at Sutton