Joint-manager John Embery told his Herne Bay team they will win more than they lose if they play like they did against Ramsgate.

Bay dominated most of the match on Saturday but their opponents snatched a 2-1 victory with two goals in the last five minutes.

Embery praised his players’ performance and told them he wants more of the same from

them.

He said: “All I could say to my players was ‘if you play like that every week you will win more games than you lose.’ Ramsgate could not get out of their half from most of the second half.

“Our players were shocked at how they did not win but it’s a good learning curve for them.”

Nassim Dukali opened the scoring for Bay with less than 20 minutes left but against the run of play, Rory Smith equalised for Ramsgate and just three minutes later, Billy Lewins scored the winner.

Embery added: “I thought we were excellent. It is one of the results I’m most gutted about this season.

“We were so dominant in the second half and we could have been about six or seven goals up. Their goalkeeper had an unbelievable game – the game of his

life.

“We were under no pressure for the second goal and sometimes it is just one of those things in football.

“Everything our players did was right when it came to shooting and hitting the target.

“They probably had two shots on target and scored with both.

“If you were to look at the stats, we must have had 10 or 12 shots on target. It could have been silly numbers.”

The defeat leaves Herne Bay 12th in Bostik South on 30 points with no wins in four. They host Phoenix Sports on Saturday who are just three points above them in ninth.

Embery added: “We are looking forward to it. They work hard but if we get the ball down and play, we will make life hard for them.”

Kingsley Aikhionbare and Tyler Myers are a doubt with a hamstring and groin problem respectively.

Alex Mulrooney-Skinner is awaiting the results of a scan to see if he will be available.