Herne Bay boss Ben Smith on heavy Isthmian Premier defeat to Hornchurch, the new 3G pitch at Winch's Field and looking for a response at Aveley

Manager Ben Smith criticised Herne Bay’s naive mentality after their homecoming fell flat on Tuesday.

Having played three “home” matches at Ramsgate, they played their first match on their new 3G pitch against Hornchurch - but the new Isthmian Premier leaders beat Smith’s side 6-0.

The result leaves Bay bottom of the table and boss Smith, whose team shipped four goals at Margate the previous midweek, didn’t mince his words.

“It was men against boys, our mentality was a very naive mentality,” he said.

“We played some great football but what did it get us? It got us nowhere, it got us minus six goals.

"Actually, we were not as bad as we were at Margate, which says a lot, but off the ball, our mentality was awful.

“It’s maturity - on all levels. They were very happy to just sit there and then pounce on us and we kept making the same mistakes over and over again.”

Bay had earned four points from their first four league fixtures and have beaten league rivals Horsham in the FA Cup but have just one clean sheet this campaign - earned during Sunday’s FA Cup Second Qualifying Round 2-0 win over Ashford which came through goals from Jack Parter and Kieron Campbell.

Smith added: “It’s a long season but, if we keep doing that, it’s going to get harder.

“We’ve shown we can play well in games but that papers over the cracks saying that right now. We were too easy to play against, it’s as simple as that. We were too easy to play against last Tuesday night.

“We had too much for Ashford - it was great, everyone enjoyed it and had a really good day - but we were too easy to play against on Tuesday and the lack of resilience in the team stood out like a sore thumb.

“[There was] a real lack of men to be brutally honest.”

Smith concedes