Joe Dowley hopes the departures of players from Sittingbourne to join ex-boss Richard Brady at Leatherhead is finally over after the sudden transfer of skipper Jerry Nnamani.

The influential defender signed for the Ryman League, Premier Division Tanners on the eve of Bourne’s game at Godalming on Saturday.

Nnamani became the fifth Sittingbourne man to join the Surrey club in three months, following Brady, player/assistant boss Jamie Coyle, midfielder Colin Richmond and defender Billy Manners.

He joined Manners and Coyle in a back four as Leatherhead won 3-0 at Kingstonian on Sunday, while Bourne also kept a clean sheet at Godalming and are within sight of the top half ahead of Saturday’s visit of struggling Burgess Hill Town to Bourne Park.

Dowley added: "That’s three games unbeaten now. We were conceding too many goals and managed to improve that but we were scoring them too and now we’re not. We need to find the right balance.

"We finished with eight men the last time we played them (a 3-0 defeat in November), so hopefully that won’t happen again."

Anthony Hogg will miss out on Saturday due to work commitments, while new skipper Dan Palfrey serves a one-match ban.