James Rogers is keen to discuss his future as Hythe manager as soon as the Cannons are safe.

Rogers’ side will be five points clear of the Isthmian South East bottom three, with four games to play, if they beat struggling Lancing at home this Saturday.

He’s enjoyed his time in charge since succeeding Steve Watt in November and wants to stay on.

But it’s important to get over the line first before sitting down with the club.

“Once we know we’re safe, I want something in place,” said Rogers, whose team beat Ashford 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the Kent Senior Cup semi-finals last night.

“I know it’s difficult for the club but I want to get organised.

“I’m a bit OCD, I can’t stand it when things aren’t organised, it plays on my mind and I’ll be going through different scenarios in my head, so I’m hoping we can have a chat about next season.

“I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been challenging, to say the least, with the budget cuts and the injuries we’ve picked up, but it’s been good.

“If everything’s right and we can put plans in place, I think we can have a good season next year but we need to finish this one first and make sure we’re safe.

"The sooner for me, the better, then we can have a chat.”

Rogers took on his first job in management at a difficult time with the Cannons forced to cut their budget.

Survival was the aim and he’s nearly there.

“I think the club are happy with the way things have gone,” said Rogers.

“We’ve stayed out of the bottom three all season.

“When we took over, we had a lot of injuries, players had left and we had a young team and a small team but as we’ve gone on, we’ve added little bits here and there.

“I think everyone’s got to be happy with what’s gone on.

“There’s a few games where I feel we should have picked up points and didn’t but we’re getting there.”

Hythe followed last weekend’s 2-0 win at Whitstable with a goalless draw at Phoenix on Saturday.

Back-to-back clean sheets pleased Rogers, who lost centre-back George Crimmen before the game when his new Mercedes broke down en route.

Young Connor Cheek stepped in alongside Ollie Gray and had an excellent game for a Hythe side who finished with 10 men after Alex Brown’s harsh dismissal for a second yellow card in the closing stages.

It was a good point given Hythe were also without Luca Woodhouse (chest infection) and Jordan Sarfo (Covid) while Tyler Sterling had been recalled by parent club Folkestone.

“If you’d offered me four points from the last two games I’d have taken that,” said Rogers.

“The pitch was horrendous again, that’s three in a row now, but we’ve conceded one goal in three games, so defensively we’ve looked strong.

“We’ve taken away a bit of our attacking threat to do that but the pitches are so hard to play on at the moment anyway. They’re worse than ploughed fields.

“Ollie Gray’s come in and is playing really well and Cheeko’s done well whenever he’s come in.

“He slotted in there on Saturday after Crimmo broke down in his new car and there’s a very good player in him.

“He’s good on the ball, he’s good in the air, he’s got everything. He’s one for the future."