Manager Ben Smith wants more understanding - from a section of Herne Bay’s own fans!

Bay have had a challenging start to their inaugural Isthmian Premier season and have been knocked out of the FA Cup and the FA Trophy, losing 2-1 in the latter competition to Bishop’s Stortford last Saturday despite in-form Rory Smith’s first-half effort.

It was always likely to be a campaign of consolidation at a higher level but they found form on Tuesday to blow Lewes away in a 40-minute first-half spell during a 4-1 home win.

Smith has been irked by the criticism he has faced by the same small section of fans before, who were vocal towards the end of last season with the club just outside the play-offs. They then went on a run to make the play-offs and then earn promotion.

“The players know they can do it,” said Smith. “Doing it is a different thing but the players know how good they are.

“What doesn’t help is when you have sections of your own supporters jumping on their backs because they are not winning every game in this league. It doesn’t work like that.

“We have got promoted and, suddenly, some people are jumping on a negative at every opportunity.

“It’s the same people, any time we lose, they start getting vocal. When we are winning, you don’t hear anything from them - and some of them know absolutely zero about football.

"Quite frankly, they are a disgrace.

“But the majority of our fans that travel home and away are absolutely superb. Look at the club now. When we came in, the club, in the league below, were probably going to get relegated and possibly going to fold - it had nothing going for it.

“Yet, we’re nine games into a season, haven’t quite got the points we wanted and we are the worst players and the worst management in the world.

“The people saying that are not supporters.”

Smith, whose team visit Bognor this Saturday and host Billericay on Tuesday night, also pointed out Herne Bay lost 8-1 at Lewes in 2017 - not long before the club were taken over by a consortium who swiftly appointed Smith as their manager.

He said: “If you back it up, you are in mid-table, looking at some teams higher with games in hand on them. Football is so fickle. There’s 40-odd games.

“The club got beat 8-1 by Lewes before. Some of these so-called supporters weren’t here then but it was 8-1. Lewes are better now by the way than they were then.

“People doubted us when we were 10 games away from reaching the play-offs last season. People doubted us - don’t panic. Back us.

“What have we done since we have been here to not be backed?”

In midweek, an electric start from Bay saw left-back Jack Parter, Kieron Campbell - with a stunning free-kick - on-loan Tushaun-Tyrese Walters and a Rory Smith penalty find the target in front of a crowd of 352.

But they were denied a deserved clean sheet when Joe Taylor converted a late penalty which referee Kane Dempster awarded despite seemingly nobody appealing.

Smith reflected: “I’m going to single out the front four but, behind it, there was a solid foundation.

“Jordan Perrin, the back four, the two in front of them and Mike West all put in a really disciplined performance. Bode Anidugbe was everywhere.

“We could go through the players but, for me, the quality the front four showed in the turnover was superb.”

It was a fourth goal in five games for Rory Smith since a dual-registration stint with Deal.

Bay’s manager said: “Rory Smith was kind of the forgotten man at Deal.

“The plan was always to bring him back, many people didn’t think that, but that was always the plan.

“He has come back and breathed fresh air in the side.”

While Walters has re-joined Herne Bay on loan from National League outfit Maidstone, Tonbridge attacking midfielder Mason Saunders-Henry has extended his loan for a second month.

Smith said: “Jay [Saunders] has been fantastic so a massive thank you to Jay and a massive thank you to Hakan [Hayrettin, the Stones boss] and Bill Williams [Maidstone’s chief executive].

“They didn’t have to give us TT back but TT needs football. He needs to feel the love and he knows he feels the love here.

“He’s got a long way to go in terms of getting where he should be in football, that’s something he will have to learn the hard way, because we never wanted him back. We wanted him to go on.”

Midfielder Eddie Allsopp is back at Bay, too, after a brief spell away.