Stuart King says if he can fire Whitstable to safety it would be his biggest achievement in football.

Despite having signed the day before and not having trained with his new team-mates, King took just five minutes to net his first Oystermen goal in more than eight years as Town drew 2-2 at Tooting and Mitcham on Saturday.

Results elsewhere left Town effectively 15 points from Ryman League, Division 1 South safety with just 16 games remaining but the 28-year-old said: “I’ve never been in the relegation zone before but I know what I’ve signed up for and am up for it.

“Whitstable are in a relegation battle. Wayne Wilson (joint-manager) got in touch after I left Faversham and said they need my goals and I am going to try and help get them out of it.

“It is going to be a tough challenge but I have a won a few things at this level and if I can score the goals to get us out of this, then that would top the lot.”

King partnered former Lilywhite forward Dean Grant just ahead of Wilson and added: “It was just like old times. We were playing the high press. I nicked the ball off the centre-half, evaded a defender and got a shot in which deflected in.

“It’s always good to get one whenever you go somewhere new. Hopefully, there are a lot more to come.

“I should have got a second really, I dinked it over the keeper but got a bit too much on it and it just cleared the bar.

“I’ve not played a lot lately and Christmas is a difficult one to miss, so maybe I was a bit rusty and I got a bit leggy in the last 25 minutes.”

He added: “There’s goals in this team but it’s going to be up to us to keep them out at the other end.

“If we could put together an unbeaten run, then teams will start to look at us differently.”

King said he has good memories of the Belmont, where he arrived from Herne Bay to fire Town to the Kent League title in 2006-07. He said: “I got 30-plus in the league but scored 49 in 47 games in all competitions. It was the making of me and put my name out there.

“It seems a long time ago now. I was only a kid but remember the board and the committee and they have a good crowd with fans singing their hearts out.”

Town host Hastings on Saturday (3pm).