Tom Loynes believes the loss of Kane Rowland has caught up with Sittingbourne.

Rowland earned a move to Bostik Premier Folkestone after scoring 24 goals last season.

The Brickies made a bright start without him but are now on a run of six defeats in all competitions.

Winger Loynes said: "We had Kane Rowland, who scored 20-plus goals last year, and we're trying to fill the gap, which was always going to be hard.

"In any league you need a 20-goal striker in your team and you'll be banging in goals for fun.

"I think we're finding it a little bit hard to adjust at the moment.

"David Smith's come back in and hopefully he can step up now."

Brickies' poor run has seen them slip to 14th in Bostik South East and go out of the FA Trophy and League Cup.

Loynes likes manager Aslan Odev's methods and feels the team are playing well.

They just need some wins and this Saturday's home game against VCD would be a good place to start.

He said: "Behind the scenes the club's doing stuff and I think Aslan has got us playing in the right way, keeping the ball, playing good football, and hopefully results will turn round the other way.

"They have to, let's be honest, you can't keep losing.

"We all have to step up as players and say, 'right, we've had enough of this now.'

"We're going through our bad run but it's an open league.

"If that's it and we come out the other end and finish the season well, we could still be in with a chance of the play-offs.

"You put a run of three or four runs together and all of a sudden you're back up there.

"From a player that's been in a couple of dressing rooms, I think Aslan's doing all the right things.

"I know people look at results but he's doing the right things and hopefully we can turn it round and push on up the league.

"We've all got to stay together, I think that's the main thing.

"Stay together, work through it and I think we'll come out the other end.

"If you speak to the fans we're playing probably some of the best football they've seen for a while. It's just little things that aren't going for us."