by Craig Tucker

Whitstable Town manager Justin Luchford will be happy if his side get anything out of their first two games of the Ryman League Division 1 South season.

But there could be a boost on the way, with Town looking to tie up a move for out-of-contract Faversham keeper Rob French, who played in the 2-2 friendly draw against Cray at the weekend.

Whitstable face two of the promotion favourites with a trip to Leatherhead on Saturday followed by Maidstone at home on Tuesday.

Nicky Southall is likely to miss both games due to a hamstring injury, while boss Luchford, pictured, is yet to work out his best team.

He is targeting the FA Cup preliminary round tie at VCD on Saturday week (August 25) for the former Gills man’s debut.

Luchford said: "I’m bored of playing friendlies but the season has probably come a couple of weeks too soon because I’m still trying to find a balance and formation that suits us.

"If we got a point out of each game it would go down as a great few days but it might be that we get to Wednesday morning with no points.

"It wouldn’t be a disaster if that happened because we’re not going to be playing teams like Leatherhead and Maidstone every week."