There’s an intriguing battle of the basement sides coming up this Saturday in Isthmian South East.

Whitstable are a place and three points in front of bottom side Phoenix Sports ahead of their meeting at Mayplace Road.

Keith McMahon has a foot in both camps, as first-team boss of Whitstable and a junior team coach at Phoenix, where his sons play.

McMahon said: “They are two brilliant football clubs but it is what it is and we have to be professional on the day and go there and get a result.

“Neither side is going to get relegated after Saturday, we have 11 games after that one.

“It is going to be what happens in those games, you can lose this game and get through it.

“We just need to be solid, very positive in what we believe and if we get three points we can move on from there.

“Three points won’t mean we are safe. It is so tight down there, anyone from 13th can get relegated.”

Bottom side Phoenix have been picking up positive results since Steve O’Boyle returned to the manager’s job.

They beat promotion-chasing Haywards Heath last weekend and took a point off second-placed Cray Valley before that.

McMahon said: “I am not really looking at Phoenix, we have to look at ourselves and work hard, and if we do that and play well then we will get a result.

“We have a good side and have been playing quite well. We lacked a bit of desire against Sittingbourne (in a 2-0 defeat) but on Saturday (at Cray Valley) we played well, Hastings we played well, Corinthian we should have won, we played well.

There is just the odd game where we aren’t playing well but I am still confident and so are the team.”

The Oystermen were beaten 2-1 last Saturday, letting slip an 18th-minute lead after George McIlroy had put them ahead.

Cray’s equaliser was controversial as Town felt the ball had gone out of play in the build-up but there were no issues with the winner, hit by Hassan Ibrahiym.

McMahon said: “It was an absolute worldy and you have to hold you hands up and say ‘what a goal’.

“They are a really good team but the way we set up and the way we worked, we deserved something from the game.

“We knew it would be tough, teams around us are winning as well, but we have 12 games left, we have all the teams around us to play and most of them are at home.”

McMahon hasn’t ruled out another addition before the weekend after handing midfielder Zak Byron his debut last Saturday. The newcomer’s dad used to be manager at Phoenix, just to add a bit more spice. Byron also played for them and left for VCD but he joined Whitstable after struggling for minutes.

McIlroy and Montrell Deslandes went off injured last weekend and will have to be assessed. Ollie Gray played for the reserves after recovering from a dislocated shoulder but might need more time before returning to the first team.