John Embery believes Herne Bay can finally start looking up the table rather than down after an encouraging end to 2018.

Saturday’s 3-2 derby victory at Sittingbourne was the third in four Bostik South East matches for bottom club Bay, who had previously won just once in 14 fixtures, and not at all at Winch’s Field.

No team have scored more goals than Bay during that run (12) and joint boss Embery believes that while there is still work to be done, he’s confident the players are heading in the right direction.

He said: “Technically we’re as good as any side in the division but we haven’t always got our attitude and application right. It’s only three wins but hopefully the boys can take this confidence forward.

“We’ve got the chance to build some momentum and start looking at reeling in one or two of the teams which are now just above us.”

Embery was particularly pleased with the character shown by Bay at Sittingbourne, where they trailed 2-0 inside 12 minutes.

The highlight of the game was provided by substitute Ronald Sobowale who brought Bay level with a goal even described by home fans as the best they have seen at Woodstock Park this season.

Embery said: “We’ve been notoriously bad starters all season, it’s something I can’t quite put my finger on and again we started slowly at Sittingbourne.

“We were two down in about 10 minutes but unlike the East Grinstead game (where they trailed 4-0 inside 24 minutes) I was always confident we could get back into the game.

“We pulled one back before half-time and I thought we totally dominated the second half. It was a good learning curve for the boys. The result showed they can respond after going behind.

“We’ve asked them to be more consistent and this showed they’ve got the mental strength, that they can pull it out of the bag, hopefully this is a building block for them.”

Of Sobowale’s strike the Bay boss added; “It was an unbelievable goal by Ronald. He picked the ball up just inside their half and just kept going past players.

“It was one of the best solo goals I’ve seen for a long time.”

Bay – who welcomed back fit-again defender Ben Gorham after a six-week absence – host 13th placed Sevenoaks on Saturday and Embery says they may have two new players by then, one a defender, and one an attacker.