Herne Bay are close to appointing their new manager.

Isthmian South East Bay have been without a permanent boss for almost a month, chairman Matt Barman and director of football Dan Tanner taking temporary charge since Steve Lovell’s exit.

With the hierarchy having whittled down their shortlist, they could name their new man ahead of this Saturday’s match at Sevenoaks.

Barman said: “We will see for Saturday because we haven’t quite finalised the process yet.

“They might have other commitments this weekend so we’ll leave that open.

“But I’m fairly confident, for the league game against Phoenix Sports next weekend, the new manager will be in charge.”

While the new boss may well be confirmed ahead of the trip to Greatness Park, Barman will be happy enough to be at the helm one last time if they prefer to take an initial watching brief.

“We’re talking to the final couple on Wednesday or Thursday,” Barman revealed.

“A couple of them are in jobs so we need to be respectful of their current clubs.

“We will try to make the best choice for the club. It’s not that I’m keeping it a secret.

“The new manager might ask me to do Saturday and have a good watch, or they may want to go straight in.

“They’ll have good support from myself, Dan Tanner and [player-coach] Liam Friend, as well, so we’ll just see how it goes.”

Bay have collected four points from Barman and Tanner’s four matches in charge to ease their relegation fears.

There are plenty of examples of chairmen enjoying success in the hot-seat - Dorking Wanderers’ Marc White and Chatham’s Kevin Hake being just two of the better examples - but Barman is more than happy to step aside to focus on off-the-field matters.

“It comes down to time,” he said. “While there’s some really good examples of chairmen being involved in management, it kind of comes down to the time you have got.

“When I came into the club, I wanted to stabilise the club and I didn’t want to become blindsided from that.

“Hopefully, we have got a new manager appointed by the end of the week.”

Bay, who had won just once in nine matches at the end of Lovell’s tenure, are a slightly improved outfit under Barman and Tanner.

But the chairman said: “I feel like we have left points out there. But sometimes, you make your own luck.

“If we keep working hard and implementing the things that we want, hopefully, we’ll turn some of these one points into three.”

Bay handed a first senior start to youth-team player Fenn Roberts for last weekend’s goalless home draw against Broadbridge Heath after two substitute appearances.

“He did brilliantly,” said Barman. “He played against Burgess Hill and had a decent cameo for Monty Saunders, who got injured, against Ashford.

“Like everyone, Fenn had to earn my trust, but I felt he’d done that and he did well on Saturday.”

The game also saw Herne Bay start returning winger Theo Osinfolarin and goalkeeper Harley Earle, who arrives after being released by Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell.

Barman said: “With Monty getting injured, we looked at other wing options and Theo was quite an obvious pick.

“We gave a debut to Harley on Saturday, as well. I speak to Ryan Maxwell quite a bit and Harley comes highly recommended.

“I wouldn’t say Harley had tons to do on Saturday but, whatever he did, was on-point with it. It was really good to get him over the line.

“Josh Bexon has been doing really well in goal, as well, so it was a really difficult decision.

“But when the new manager comes in, he has got two excellent goalkeepers to pick between.”

Barman felt Bay did enough to see off Broadbridge Heath, albeit the all-important goal proved elusive at Winch’s Field.

He reflected: “The first half was a little bit basketball-like.

“They were attacking, we were attacking, so to go in level, that was probably about right. I felt we missed some really good chances and they will probably say the same.

“In the second half, I felt we got to grips with things in midfield and pinned them in for periods.

"We probably did enough to win the game but it wasn’t to be.”

Herne Bay’s scheduled trip to Erith Town fell victim to the weather on Tuesday.