Gil Carvalho could be sidelined for the rest of Herne Bay’s games this calendar year in a blow to their play-off hopes.

Six-goal winger Carvalho is out with an injured hand and, having not played for Isthmian South East Bay since November 11, he’s now discovered he will need an operation to solve the problem.

However, versatile players Bola Dawodu and Dan Carrington have returned for Bay and boss Steve Lovell had more positive news on the injury front.

“Bola is back,” said Lovell. “Dan Carrington is back and Archie Burnett is not far away, although Tom Hanfrey is perhaps a couple of weeks away. We still have got two or three out.

“Gil Carvalho is going to be out for about four or five weeks. He’s broken a bone in his hand and needs an operation on it.

“That’s a big loss. He’s been one of our more consistent players and we do miss him. But that’s football.

“We will get on with it and, hopefully, we can get somebody in to replace him until he’s ready.”

Herne Bay were edged out 1-0 at home by Cray Valley with striker Kyrell Lisbie scoring in the 20th minute last weekend.

“It was a good game,” Lovell reflected. “We played well, especially in the second half.

“We had enough chances in the second half to have won the game - but it was a good performance.

“First half, I think they had the better of it but we hit the bar and had a couple of other efforts that were just off target. But we definitely bossed the second half.

“They’re a very good side, well organised, and you don’t go that far in the FA Cup if you’re not a good side.

“It was disappointing not to get anything out of the game.”

After also being beaten by leaders Ramsgate by the same scoreline at Winch’s Field in August, Lovell has urged his players to have more faith in their ability, having been denied an equaliser against the Millers by visiting goalkeeper Sam Freeman.

He said: “He made a couple of really good saves but we missed chances, as well.

“I think there were chances there that we have got to start putting away. We haven’t done that in the last couple of weeks, against Sheppey (in a 2-2 draw) and on Saturday.

“We’re creating enough opportunities but our forwards aren’t sticking them away at the moment. They’ve got to start doing that. If they do that, it takes the pressure off the rest of the boys. The rest of the team are getting there slowly.

“They just need to have a little bit more faith in themselves as players. Myself and Mark (Lovell, his son and assistant) have so much faith in them that they’re a good side but they have got to do it themselves.

“They really need to get out there and grab it by the neck and show us what they can do. When they do that, they’re excellent. But they’ve got to do it on a consistent basis.

“Ramsgate and Cray Valley, we’ve narrowly lost to them, and probably deserved to get something out of both games. We just need to be more consistent throughout the 90 minutes.

“When we do that, I think we will be fine.”

Bay sit just outside the play-off places in ninth - but plenty of sides around them have games in hand.

It doesn’t get any easier for Herne Bay. They are scheduled to face Chichester at Bognor this Sunday and visit rivals Hythe on Wednesday.

“There’s a few teams that are perhaps a game or two behind us so it’s important that we do pick up points over the December period to stay amongst it,” admitted Lovell.

“The Chichester game on Sunday will be a tough game, as will the game against Hythe on Wednesday.

“It’s a tough week coming up but these are the games you want.

“We have got a difficult December and January.

“We’ve got to play a lot of the teams that are going to be up there. That’s what it is all about, though. You’ve got to play everybody in the league and need to put in some good performances to make sure we can get some points out of them.

“The performances are good. At the moment, we’re not getting the results - but that will turn around.

“We’re all right at the moment and just need to start finishing games off.”

While playing on a Sunday will be a slightly unusual experience, Bay’s manager won’t use that as an excuse.

He said: “With it being a Sunday, that doesn’t really make any difference.

“It’s a weekend game so we’ll approach it the same way and, hopefully, get something out of it.”