Herne Bay boss Ben Smith eyes play-off glory in Isthmian South East after helping club make history by securing top-five finish

Ben Smith is eyeing play-off glory after helping Herne Bay make history.

Back-to-back wins against Sittingbourne and Hythe have seen Bay confirm a top-five Isthmian South East finish.

Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Bay are third and it is thought this will be the club’s highest-placed finish in their history.

“It’s nice to break a few records on the way,” said boss Smith.

“Obviously, the club has had success at Step 5 [reaching the FA Vase semi-finals in 2012, as they also earned promotion to the Isthmian League that season]. That’s part of the history of the club and the stuff they did will never be forgotten.

“We are now trying to make our own history at Step 4.

“There’s a lot of clubs that have been very well-resourced down near the bottom area, you just need to look at what’s happened at Whitehawk and Whitstable. They’ve got good budgets but, sometimes, it just doesn’t happen for whatever reason.

“As it stands, we have got higher targets. When you get into the play-offs, you want to win them.

“But it’s about taking one game at a time.”

After Zak Ansah’s brace had helped Smith’s side to a 2-0 success at Sittingbourne on Friday, another 2-0 home win in front of 746 fans at Winch’s Field on Monday sealed their play-off berth, with Rory Smith and Ansah scoring.

Smith added: “It was a great day on Monday for the club, players and supporters. It was a decent crowd, and there was nothing manufactured about the crowd.

“The atmosphere was fantastic. As I said a long time ago, our rivals are not Whitstable Town. They can’t be.

“I got a bit of stick for it at the time but our rivals have got to be whoever is standing in our way of our goal, and our goal is to win the play-offs.

“The atmosphere on Monday