Manager Ben Smith is excited ahead of Herne Bay’s derby clash against Ashford.

Both Kent clubs harbour genuine promotion ambitions, with Bay just outside the Isthmian South East play-offs in sixth but with at least one game in hand on everyone above them, while Tommy Warrilow’s side are second.

Smith suggests games such as Saturday's one at Winch’s Field are some of the biggest Herne Bay have been involved in for nearly a decade.

He said: “It’s an opportunity to show that we can compete at the right end. It’s an opportunity to show we are contenders to go up, which is the ultimate aim.

“We have got to see these games as exciting opportunities, rather than getting panicked by them.

“This club has not been in these sort of big games since the FA Vase run (when they reached the semi-final in 2012) when they were in the Kent League. We have got to embrace that.

“There’s certainly nothing to fear. I’m not going into the game, saying ‘Look at this player’ or ‘They have this player’ - I concentrate on my players and what I have got.

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“Tommy will do the same. It’s the right mindset to have.”

Bay were held to a goalless draw at Corinthian last Saturday, which saw them drop out of the top five.

Smith’s side had been due at Faversham on Tuesday night but, around 30 minutes before kick-off, the match was called off due to foggy conditions.

“The health and safety of the players has got to be our primary concern,” Smith commented.

“We would have liked to have had the game because it was our game in hand, and we could have gone second with a win. It means nothing, really (at this stage of the season), but suddenly we are now out of the play-offs.

“But actually we have a game in hand - two on some clubs - so it’s just about mindset.

“I just said to the players ‘Don’t worry about where we sit at the minute in the league’ because we are right amongst it.”

Smith said he would have taken a point prior to their match at Corinthian but, with Bay unhappy not to have been awarded a penalty for a challenge on captain Laurence Harvey, he felt his team could have come away with all three points.

He reflected: “It was hard-fought, potentially a good point. Out of the top six, nobody has gone there and won.

“There were some disgraceful decisions in that game. I don’t know what we have got to do to get a penalty.

“Laurence has headed the ball and got booted in the face. It looked shocking in real time and, having seen the footage afterwards, it’s a howler from the official.

"He’s apologised but what do we get afterwards?

“If I do something wrong on the sideline, I’m getting a touchline ban. We talk about respect for officials, let’s get the basics right first, it’s beyond me how we have not got a penalty.

“But we have come away with a point and we come away disappointed with a point.”

Bay host Sevenoaks in the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday - with the winners facing Peter Taylor’s Welling in the next round, a potential match which could see a reunion with former midfielder Bradley Stevenson.