Manager James Rogers feels for his young players as Hythe battle relegation.

There’s always the argument youngsters play without fear but Rogers isn’t so sure that stacks up in the Cannons’ predicament.

They’re fighting for survival in Isthmian South East and visit Three Bridges this Saturday.

“I think you need experience in these situations,” said player-boss Rogers, whose side were boosted by Riley Alford's last-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Whitehawk on Tuesday night.

“You can have kids but it’s asking a lot to play with this amount of pressure week in, week out.

“George Sibley is an example.

“At 17, to be involved in a relegation battle at this stage in his career, it’s a big ask.

“Ideally, you’d put him in for two games and then maybe take him out for one.

“When you’re young, and we’ve all been there, you can lose concentration at times, and you do have to manage young players.

“For someone like Sibs, he’s played a lot of games and to be able to take that forward is going to help his career, but it is tough in a relegation battle.

“We’ve got boys with bags of ability, and I’m sure they’ll push on, but it’s quite a lot of pressure at 17 and we need to be careful with them.”

Rogers, his side beaten 3-0 at leaders Hastings last weekend, is hoping to add a bit more experience but is wary of signing the wrong characters.

“I want players who’ve played at this level but not ones who’ve jumped from team to team,” he said.

“I look at certain players and if they’ve had a different club every two seasons I don’t think that’s too bad, but when it’s three or four clubs a season, I’m not interested.

“There’s a reason why they’ve had that amount of clubs.

"For me personally, I want players who are going to come in, buckle down, get on with the lads in the changing room and be ready for the scrap.”

Hythe were well-beaten at Hastings, with Rogers convinced the U’s will win the title.

Sam Adams scored twice in the first half, an early opener and a penalty just before the break, with Jack Dixon adding Hastings’ third.

“They’ll win the league, there’s no doubt in my mind,” said Rogers.

“There’s some good sides in this league and as I said to their manager after the game, we’ve gone toe-to-toe with Ramsgate, Herne Bay and Cray Valley but Hastings were too strong and too organised.

“We haven’t played Ashford since I’ve been in charge but Hastings didn’t give us a sniff.

“The penalty was harsh but it didn’t change the game, they were on top for the whole game so there are no gripes from me.

“I hope our young lads from it and see the standard needed to win leagues.

“It was a free hit for us, everyone expected them to win.

“We still wanted to win, we weren’t going there to make the numbers up and sometimes when it’s a free hit, it relaxes your players a bit but they were too good.

“As good as they were, we were poor, but I think that was partly down to them nullifying us in every area.

“If Covid hadn’t come round and stopped the last two seasons, I’m sure they’d have gone up already.

“When they’re adding players like Finn O’Mara from Folkestone, who’s experienced at the level above, it makes them even stronger.

“We lost to them 3-0 at home as well. We were unlucky not to be ahead in that game but they’ve improved massively since then.”