John Embery says Herne Bay’s confidence remains good despite a run of defeats which has seen them slip back into the bottom two.

Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat at Haywards Heath was the third in a row for Bay, who had won four of their previous five matches in Bostik South East.

Embery felt his side deserved at least a point from the trip to Sussex but said that once again misfortune had played its part.

Raphe Brown and Alex Mulrooney-Skinner were both hampered by back problems during the game, with the former eventually having to come off.

Mulrooney-Skinner stayed on although clearly hindered by the injury, and Embery revealed he was unable to call upon defender Callum Adonis-Taylor, who complained of sickness after being named among the substitutes.

The Bay joint boss explained: “The boys’ reaction after the game was good.

“There was no one down in the dumps, they were just disappointed because they felt they deserved something from the game.

“That’s a great sign because if you’re going to a side like Haywards Heath (who are in the top five) and coming away disappointed you’ve not won then that says something about how the boys feel they are playing at the moment.

“We were excellent in the first half, we scored a good goal and and could have had two or three more.

“They struggled to live with us but they went really direct in the second half and we had to defend hard.

“Raphe and Alex were both struggling with their backs and in the end we had to decide which one of them was worse and take Raphe off.

“Our back three, of Ben Gorham, Connor Wilkins and Danny Rumbol, were sensational.

“It was a cruel way to lose but you’ve got to look at our game management in those situations, we need to be a bit brighter, sometimes you’ve just got to clear your lines and run the clock down.”

Bay have faced three of the division’s top five in their last four matches (Cray, Hastings and Heath) and on Saturday host in-form Ashford who are up to second after a run of six straight wins.

Embery is expecting another tough contest but whatever the outcome says neither he nor co manager Jermaine Darlington are thinking about relegation.

He added:“It’s not even spoken about, we’ve had a tough run lately but after Ashford our run eases off in terms of not playing teams at the top and we can concentrate on trying to beat the teams in and around us.”

Brown, Mulrooney-Skinner and Adonis-Taylor should all be fit for selection on Saturday and Embery hopes to have Danny Leonard back.

He is also close to completing the signing of a centre-half.