New Faversham Town joint-manager Danny Chapman hopes to bring some confidence back to the club as they aim to finish as high as they can in the Bostik South East this season.

Chapman and Phil Miles were appointed as managers of Faversham last week following Ray Turner’s departure in October.

Miles is currently away in South Africa on charity work but will be back on Monday after their match against Hastings United on Saturday.

Chapman said: “I feel like the team isn’t that far away. You can go on a run in this league and suddenly find yourselves up the table. If we had beaten VCD and Greenwich we would be fifth rather than 14th.

“The aim this season is to finish as high as we can. We need to get our confidence back with a couple of wins.

“It will be a tough game against Hastings but those are the sort of games you want to play. It’s up to the players to go out onto the pitch and show me what they can do.”

Chapman played for in the Football League for Millwall, and Leyton Orient as well as enjoying spells at Dover Athletic, Folkestone Invicta, Welling United, Hastings and Cray Wanderers.

The 43-year-old then moved into coaching at Ebbsfleet, also enjoying a spell as assistant manager at Braintree Town.

Miles is well known to Faversham supporters having played as centre-half at Salters Lane from 1988 to 1992 before spells at Herne Bay, Deal Town, Chatham Town and Slade Green.

He coached Chatham Town’s first team from 2005-7 and then joined up with Chapman at Ebbsfleet, where the pair helped mastermind the club’s successful academy set-up. His father Pat is also a former Faversham manager.

Chapman said: “I am very pleased to get back into the game. It is fantastic opportunity for myself and Phil.

“When the job came up we rang each other and had a good chat about it. We put together a three-year plan that involved the youth set up and put in a joint application.

“We have worked together before and bounce well off each other and I think the chairman could see that in the interview.

“We want players that come through the youth set up and know they have a chance of playing for the first team.”

Chapman and Miles will not be looking to make wholesale changes but will assess the squad and then look to bring in any players they feel they need.

Chapman added: “It is a good group of players here at Faversham. With no disrespect to Ray Turner or Clive Walker, I think they need a new voice in the dressing room and to freshen things up a bit.

“Nothing is going to change dramatically. We will look and the squad and then make decisions on what we need. We have a couple of injuries so may look to dip into the loan market.

“I watch the game against VCD and they were well in the game and unlucky. It’s just fine margins for them.”