Herne Bay boss Steve Lovell hopes to reap the benefits of a deeper squad as cup football continues to dominate.

Lovell’s side lost for the first time this season on Tuesday night - going down 2-1 at Hythe in their Isthmian South East fixture, losing to a controversial penalty.

Their next four games are in knockout football before playing their first home league match of the season at the end of this month - a game which will be moved if they win on Saturday.

Bay host Isthmian Premier side Hendon in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Lovell said: “We have got a decent squad where I can change it around and keep people fresh.

“We have a lot of games coming up in the next five weeks, we had some knocks from the weekend and made a few changes on Tuesday but I have a squad of people who can go in there and perform, which is good.

“I will most probably change it again for the Hendon game. I will see what we’ve got and try and use it the best that we can.

“I have a squad of 17-18 players who are all good enough to hold a place in our team which is great to have.

“You don’t know how long it will last because if boys aren’t playing regularly perhaps they want to play somewhere else, but at the moment I have competition in all places and they want to be with us. That is the big thing, wanting to be around us and being a part of what we are hopefully going to aim for this year.”

Weekend opponents Hendon drew 2-2 with Chatham at the weekend and play in the league above.

Lovell said: “They are a good side and made a good start to the season themselves, it will be tough, any FA Cup tie is tough because of the nature of the competition.

“We will have to be at our best to get anything out of it.”

That match is followed by a trip to Sheppey United on Tuesday night in the Velocity Cup second round. Next weekend they head to Three Bridges in the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy and then play a midweek home Kent Senior Cup game against Erith Town.

Lovell said: “It can get in the way of your league games but for the club it is great to have a run in the cups and we’ll try and win as many of the games as we can.

“If we get through the FA Cup and FA Trophy that will take another two Saturdays out but we want to win these games and keep going as long as we can.

“I have no problem playing any of the squad - they are all good enough.”

Bay beat Northwood at home last Saturday 1-0 in the FA Trophy first qualifying round thanks to a Kane Haysman goal.

Isthmian South East Table

Mike Salako had put Lovell’s side ahead on Tuesday at Hythe but Lex Allan levelled early in the second half and referee Ben McDonald awarded the home side a penalty, for handball, which Bruno Tavares converted. Hythe held on to win.

“It was a decent game,” Lovell said. “We played well, it wasn’t as if our performance was poor. We didn’t take our chances and they got two goals which were against the run of play.

“Second half we had chances to get something out of the game and didn’t take them but credit to Hythe, they battled second half.

“The handball [for the penalty] was ridiculous. Jack [Parter’s] hand was down by his side and the fella hit it from two yards. It’s a joke. If it was VAR it wouldn’t have been given but they will hopefully even themselves out.

“We can’t do anything about it now. They had a few half chances but it was another good performance and we didn’t get the win, which was disappointing.

“We weren’t going to go through the whole season without losing a game, it was just the nature of the way we lost it, but we will bounce back and look forward to another tough game on Saturday.”