Jamie Coyle believes this Saturday’s FA Cup tie is exactly the sort of match Whitstable were after.

Manager Coyle will return to Champion Hill as they face early Isthmian Premier high-fliers Dulwich in the first qualifying round.

While the Oystermen are clear underdogs, they’ll fancy their chances of producing an upset against Mark Dacey’s Hamlet team, whose unbeaten league start ended with a 1-0 loss to Whitehawk on Bank Holiday Monday.

Coyle said: “They have, obviously, had a great start to the season. They were unbeaten before Monday.

“They get crowds of 2,500 or 3,000 there so it’ll be a really good day for us as a club.

“We can showcase what we’re all about. We wanted a fixture like this.

“It’s going to be really tough because they’re a good side with a good management team.

“It will be a great fixture for the fans and it will be a game that’s similar to some of those we had in our Vase run. The boys deserve a day like this.

“There’ll be no pressure on us, apart from the pressure we put on ourselves, and we’ll give it a go and see what happens.”

Whitstable endured a mixed Bank Holiday weekend, beating ground tenants Faversham Strike Force 2-1 in the Southern Counties East Premier Division, just 48 hours after a shock 4-1 defeat at Sutton Athletic.

“It was brilliant on Monday,” reflected Coyle, who has started midfielder Parish Muirhead to help fill the void left by the suspended Mikey Dalton.

“We had near-enough 900 people there, which was unbelievable for a Bank Holiday game.

“It wasn’t a fantastic display.

"Ultimately when you have had a heavy defeat on Saturday, all that matters is getting three points. I felt we deserved the win over the 95 minutes.

"We had some glorious chances that we missed and you always worry that you’ll get countered on but we ground it out.”

Coyle felt Stuart Benfield’s newly-promoted Strike Force had tried to replicate how Sutton Athletic played against them, only for goals from strikers Javaun Splatt and Dean Grant to ensure the Oystermen were winners in front of a crowd of 874 at The Belmont.

He noted: “I think they would have watched the VEO (highlights) from Saturday or maybe spoken to someone at the game because they played in a similar shape to what Sutton did.

“The professionalism in this league is just getting better and better. That’s great for the game.

“Monday was a great advertisement for the league. If you look at the bigger picture, we’re trying to really build the community off the pitch, as well as on it.

“Myself and Matt (Longhurst, his assistant) have been running the soccer schools and all of those kids came along with their families.

“We can really help the club grow - not just with the first team - but with the community, as well.”

At Sutton Athletic, the hosts capitalised on a numerical advantage while vastly-experienced midfielder Joe Healy was sin-binned towards the end of the first half to leave young forward Ashdon Day’s second-half strike in vain.

Whitstable had Ricardo Thompson dismissed for two cautions late on.

“When we sat down at the start of the season, it’s the only league that I’ve known where you have had to account for officiating decisions costing you points,” said Coyle. “Saturday was the prime example of that.

“You don’t want to blame the officials for losing a game.

"But they made a crazy decision to give a corner, which led to Joe Healy being sin-binned.

“They scored from the corner - and then twice more when we were down to 10 men.

“You need to accept there’s going to be some crazy decisions in games and just ride the wave.

“We didn’t do that on Saturday and, unfortunately, it cost us three points.”

Coyle explained talented 20-year-old forward Nathan Jeche remains at the club but is sidelined with a serious injury - which he played with at the end of last season.

Coyle revealed: "He actually played the Vase final with, basically, no ACL!

“He got injured a few games before Wembley and was just managing it with the physio. We have actually joked we played at Wembley with 10 men!

“After the game, he had an operation on his knee so he’s been out since.

“He’s probably about five or six weeks away, and he’ll be a massive plus when he’s back fit.”