Proud Herne Bay manager Steve Lovell couldn’t be critical of any of his players after they were knocked out of the FA Cup by higher-division Maidstone on Saturday.

Isthmian South East Bay bowed out of the competition at the third qualifying round stage, losing 1-0 at home to their National League South visitors.

A mix-up between young defender Skye Salmon and goalkeeper Harry Brooks led to the former scoring an own goal towards the end of the first half, which was enough to send the Stones through.

But Herne Bay fought hard and came close to setting up a replay late on in front of a bumper crowd.

“It was a very good performance from our boys,” reflected Lovell. “We gave it everything.

“I cannot fault anybody. They have run their socks off against a team from two leagues above.

“I’m just disappointed with the way we lost it - that own goal - but I cannot have a go at anybody in the dressing room. They have given everything right up until the last kick of the game when we have had half a chance to nick a draw.

Report: Herne Bay 0-1 Maidstone

“But when you’re up against opposition from two levels above, you expect to be put under pressure and closed down a lot - which they did to us.

“You don’t get the time that you get in league games. But it was a good performance.

“Everyone gave their all and you cannot ask for more than that.”

While Maidstone often showed their higher-division class as they took control of the tie, they struggled to create many clear-cut opportunities.

Lovell said: “Defensively, we were fine.

“We dealt with the balls into our box, as well. The balls that came in, our boys headed them away - but they play for that a bit, long throws and big free-kicks into the box - because they have got big lads, who can get on the end of it. But I thought we dealt with it well.

“Apart from that, they didn’t cause us too many problems and we kept our shape. I’m just disappointed that, when we got the ball, we didn’t use it better than we have done.

“But that’s down to the opposition, working hard. They’re full-time, they work every week, so their fitness levels are better than that of the opposition we play most weeks.

“It was a good test for us and a good confidence-booster for our boys because we haven’t been hammered.”

Mike Salako was one of the Bay players to go close towards the end, although the six-goal striker struggled to get enough service to cause as many problems as he regularly does.

“Mike - like everybody - gave a good shift,” stated Lovell.

“We didn’t create enough opportunities today, really, but that’s down to the way they defended. They defended really well.

“We’ll just dust ourselves down and train next week.”

Lovell also explained the reasoning behind the decision to bring on defender Joel Odeniran for midfielder Mo Kamara at half-time.

He said: “I just wanted to change the shape of the team.

“We didn’t need Mo at the back because they only played one up front so we went with three at the back and pushed our wing-backs on.

“We played a 3-4-3 or a 3-4-1-2 to cause problems a little bit and it worked to a certain degree.”

A crowd of 1,997 was Herne Bay’s highest crowd since the 1970s.

Lovell said: “I’d like to thank everybody that came down.

“It made it a great day. The boys have really enjoyed it, I hope they have enjoyed it.

“It would be lovely to have gone back to Maidstone for a replay on Tuesday.

“If we’d lost 4-0 or 5-0, I’d have come here and said ‘Well, that’s fine’ but, just to lose on that own goal, it’s a bit sickening.”

With their scheduled midweek match against Three Bridges now postponed, Bay will next be in action at Isthmian Premier Chichester in the FA Trophy third qualifying round next weekend.