Whitstable joint-manager Danny Ward has set his sights on rewriting the Oystermen’s record books in the climax to the Ryman League, Division 1 South season.

Ward has all but conceded defeat in the play-off race, with a 10-point gap to close on Whyteleafe with just five games to play.

He said: “It’s going to be tough but we’ll keep going as long as we can.”

Town’s hopes of snatching a top-five finish were all but ended by Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Carshalton Athletic.

Town needed a late Scott Heard penalty to salvage a point from a game which Ward insisted should have been won long before that.

He said: “I don’t exaggerate about football but we could have been 7-0 up inside 20 minutes.

“You come in at half-time and we should be ahead but there’s nothing you can say to them when they’ve played like that.

“In the end it felt like three points lost and a point gained in the same afternoon.”

He added: “I’ve said all along that 75 points was the target and that would probably get the last place and we can still achieve that with four wins and a draw – even though it might not be enough to get fifth now.

“We are probably going to end up with the most points Whitstable have ever had though and hopefully the highest ever finish. We want to keep on breaking records and see where it gets us.”

After back-to-back draws saw Town lose ground at a vital time, Ward pointed to the absence of striker Ian Pulman to a three-match ban as crucial.

He said: “Pulman has been a massive loss for us. He is our captain, our talisman, our top goalscorer.

“We just haven’t got the squad depth to be able to cope with injuries and suspensions and we haven’t got the finances to sign new players to help us.

“If we’d managed to sign Nathan Elder from Dover, I think we’d have won the last two games. You need an influx at this time of year and not being able to do it has killed us.

“It is frustrating but we have to cut our cloth accordingly.”

Pulman serves the final game of his ban against South Park on Saturday (3pm) and should return at sixth-placed Herne Bay on Easter Monday.