Whitstable Town manager Lee Martin loses Jack Nelson to a broken leg but the Oystermen continue their flying form

In-form Whitstable Town have lost striker Jack Nelson to a broken leg.

Nelson suffered a fractured fibula during Town’s 3-1 Isthmian South East win at Broadbridge Heath last weekend.

Fellow striker Kane Rowand also went off after taking a whack on the cheekbone and while he missed the 2-0 midweek win over AFC Croydon, boss Lee Martin hopes it’s nothing more than an impact injury.

Nelson appears to be the more serious of the two, with Martin waiting to discover how long he will be out.

“Jack got his studs caught in the ground and the lad came through the back of him,” said Martin.

“It looked a lot worse in real-time. Watching it back, it’s not as malicious as I first thought.

“He was in a lot of pain, a lot of discomfort. I’m not sure how it looks moving forward in terms of the diagnosis.

“We’ll have to look at the physio report and see what’s the best route to go down.

“It’s disappointing because he was just coming into his own.

“He’d started the season well, then he had a mini-blip, which happens with youngsters when they’re trying to find their way and confidence sometimes disappears.

“You have to pick them up and we did that well in the sense that we took him out for a few games and brought him back in for the next two.

“He’s one that we’ve got a lot out of and he’s bought into the project.

“There’s a lot of boys ahead of him in terms of names but if you’ve got the shirt, you’ve got the shirt.

“It’s down to you to lose it. You’ve got an opportunity with us and if you do well, you stay there.

“You’re not getting replaced just because of someone else’s name and the level they’ve played at. I think that’s been quite evident and something he’s really benefited from.”

Martin eased Whitstable’s injury problems by bringing