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Hythe manager Steve Watt believes the Isthmian South East table will take longer to settle down this season.
The Cannons have made a bright start with 10 points from five games leaving them third going into Saturday’s trip to bottom side Haywards Heath.
But with football still getting back on its feet amid the coronavirus pandemic, Watt believes more than ever it’s too soon to read anything into the table.
He said: “We’ve got 10 points from five games but the table won’t sort itself out until maybe 15 games.
“Everyone normally says 10 but I’d say 15 this year because of everything that’s gone on in the world.
“We’re seeing a few crazy results, our 4-0 defeat at home to Phoenix being one of them, and I think that will happen until people find their feet again.
“I’m pleased with all our performances, bar 45 minutes against Phoenix, we just need to keep chalking the games off.
“We don’t seem to get a lot of credit for the results we get but that’s not our concern.
“I want to win games of football, I don’t care how it looks, whether it’s easy on the eye - I just want to win.
“We got that winning mentality at the end of last season and we’ve carried it on.
“With the squad we’ve got, we can mix up our shape, our style.
“It was important when rebuilding that we didn’t just have one identity.
“We need to be able to flit to different ones and we’ve done that in recent weeks.”
Watt believes midfielder Alex Brown is getting back to his best after scoring the first hat-trick of his career in Hythe’s 6-0 win at Whitstable last week.
The former Maidstone man also impressed when the Cannons came from two goals down to beat Ashford on penalties in the FA Trophy on Saturday.
Brown, who recently became a dad for the first time, battled back from a serious knee injury suffered at Margate and was playing well before last season was scrapped.
“I’m so pleased for Browny,” said Watt. “I don’t think anyone deserves that hat-trick more than him.
“He’s been through a really tough time in the last few years with the bad injury at Margate.
“He was just getting back to his old self when the lockdown hit, which was really disappointing for him and for us.
“He missed a big chunk of pre-season where his missus had a C-section and he had to be around to help, so he’s gone from March to August without playing a match.
“That’s basically like having another injury on top of his ACL, so it’s taken a lot of hard work for him to get back.
“He was fantastic at Whitstable and he played very well on Saturday.
“It’s a case of managing him and keeping him fit.
“He’s an all-action player who covers every blade of grass and I’ve said to him it might take a while to get back to that level and you might have to change your game slightly until your lungs and legs allow you to do that again.
“We’ve tweaked his position a little bit and used his energy in different ways but he’s looking back to his old self.”
