Faversham boss Ray Turner is keeping his cool despite a second defeat in a week for his title-chasing Town side in Ryman League, Division 1 South.

Whitstable’s 3-1 win at Salters Lane was followed seven days later by a 2-1 reverse at Hythe which left the Lilywhites three points behind unbeaten Burgess Hill, who have five games in hand and a better goal difference.

Despite the blip allowing third-placed Merstham and fourth-placed Folkestone to close the gap on Town, Turner insisted: “I am not overly concerned, I would be more worried if performances had dropped off, but we’ve not played badly and we’ve continued to create chances.

“Credit to both Hythe and Whitstable, they were very pumped up for the games. The derbies have worked against us really, though we should look at it as complimentary that teams are so motivated to play against us.

“Playing against Kent sides is always different, especially now we’re near the top. We have a run now of nine games before we face another local team, Sittingbourne, on Easter Monday. We need to take advantage of that.”

While not conceding the title just yet, Turner claimed he was no longer focused on the leaders’ fortunes, instead aiming to finish strongly and set some new club records.

He said: “I certainly think scoring 100 goals is achievable (Town need 17 more in 13 games for a century in the league) and I think 100 points is too (Town need 29 points from 13 games for the milestone).

“That would mean 10 wins from 13 and I have no idea where that would leave us, but I’ve said to the players, we need to take Burgess Hill out of the equation now and just concentrate on ourselves.”

Town face a reshuffle for the visit to Corinthian Casuals on Saturday (3pm) as Dean Grant serves a one-game ban, Wayne Wilson begins a two-match ban after accumulating 10 bookings, while Dave Botterill serves the first of a three-match suspension.
Ashley Brown’s hamstring will be assessed, but Josh Stanford should return.