Manager Matt Longhurst says it would be lazy to blame pressure for Ramsgate’s play-off wobble.

Rams are battling to stay in the top five after three successive defeats.

Their latest loss came at home to Sittingbourne on Saturday when Danny Taylor scored a spectacular goal from inside his own half in the last 10 minutes.

The 1-0 defeat leaves Rams with just a two-point cushion over sixth-placed Herne Bay, with five games to play.

“It’s not ideal to be losing three games in a row at this stage of the season,” said Longhurst.

“It would be easy to say the pressure is getting to the players but I think that would be a lazy comment for me to make as a manager and I don’t think that’s the case.

“Corinthian were much better than us on the night, it was like a cup final for them and you have give them credit, but the last two games I don’t think we’ve played badly at all.

“Whitehawk, we were 1-0 up and in control and the pitch causes Jamie Coyle to make an error he probably hasn’t made in his whole career, and then we’ve lost to a goal scored by a player inside his own half.

“It was a great strike, he definitely meant it, but it’s a poor one to concede from our point of view.

“We were the better side without creating too much.

“They sat in and kept their shape well but there’s no way we deserved to lose that game.

“It’s just been mistakes, which is so frustrating, but you can’t over-analyse these things too much because you’ll drive yourselves mad.

“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing, we’ve not changed the way we play, it’s the same personnel, bar one or two, that were winning games.”

Failure to secure a top-five finish wouldn’t detract from the progress made as a club.

But having spent virtually the entire season in the play-off places, Rams, who visit third-placed Cray Valley this Saturday, are desperate to see the job through.

“We’ve made loads of progress, on and off the pitch, we’re well ahead of where we should be,” said Longhurst.

“We want to make the play-offs, and we’d be disappointed not to, but if for any reason we don’t, it will still be a successful season.

"We’re ahead of schedule and our focus now is to try and make sure we stay in the top five.

“If we finish in the play-offs, it will be because we deserve to be in there over the course of the season; if we don’t, we haven’t deserved to.

"The league table doesn’t really lie. If we finish sixth, we’re the sixth best team; if we finish fourth, we’re the fourth best team."

Cray Valley have recovered from their own three-match losing streak by winning their last two games.

They’re as good as anyone in the league on their day but Rams are up for the challenge.

Longhurst said: “People will look at it and say, ‘Cor, Ramsgate lost three on the bounce, I wouldn’t fancy that’ but we look at it the other way.

"We’re a young team with a point to prove, a wounded animal, looking to come out the other side. I’m confident we can go and get a result.”