Clive Cook has challenged his Hythe players to go on a winning run between now and the end of the year.

Three of the Cannons’ next four league games are at home and of their six Bostik South fixtures left in 2017, four are against teams in the bottom half of the table.

With the exception of next Saturday’s trip to Cray Wanderers, they’ll go into each game as favourites and Cook is determined to make it count.

He said: “Once you get the Christmas and New Year period out of the way, you can see where you’re at and what you’ve got to do.

“I’ll be looking to pick up points from now until Christmas Eve and I’m not talking about draws. I want to go on a run.

“Cray’s in there among that, which is a big game for us but they’re all decent.

“Potentially, it’s a good set of fixtures but you’ve got to turn up every single game. They’re fine margins and if you don’t, you will get undone.”

Hythe, who beat VCD 2-1 at home last night (Tuesday), are at home to Hastings on Saturday with Molesey and Phoenix also due to visit Reachfields before Christmas.

Cook said: “Home or away, we’ve got to go on a run because it settles everyone down.

“People get impatient when you lose or draw games but they’ve got to remember we’ve only played 20 games (before Tuesday). We’re not halfway through yet so there’s a long way to go.

“That batch of fixtures right up to New Year’s Eve is not bad, except for one, so you’ve got to look to gain points from them.

“You’ve got to be up for a battle first of all, you’ve got to be up to work. You’ve got to earn the right and everything will come out in the wash if you do the little things.

“We have got battlers but sometimes people go missing and then it stands out like a sore thumb.”

Cook admitted Ashley Miller has “a lot of work to do” to get back in the team although fit-again Will Thomas played the full 90 minutes as Hythe lost 2-1 at Horsham on Saturday.

“He was rusty,” Cook said. “It’s going to take time and patience because he was out for 13 weeks.

“There were too many four-out-of-10s, a couple of nines but I’m disappointed.

“But we’re not even halfway through. You don’t win titles and promotions in November.”

Hythe entertain Hendon in the Velocity Trophy on Tuesday.