Herne Bay boss Steve Lovell says season-ending 3-3 home draw with Chichester City was story of their season as they fight back from 2-0 and 3-1 down

Manager Steve Lovell felt Herne Bay’s final-day draw with Chichester summed up the story of their season.

After a goalless first half, Bay were 2-0 down by the hour mark last weekend - conceding the opening goal inside 40 second-half seconds when a cross-cum-shot flew over keeper Harry Brooks’ head.

But a frantic final 10 minutes saw it finish 3-3 thanks to goals from top scorer Michael Salako (2) and midfielder Archie Burnett.

Bay finished eighth in Isthmian South East and Lovell reflected: “For the neutral, I suppose it would have been great - but not for their manager (Miles Rutherford)! They were 2-0 up, we got a goal back and got back into it.

“The first half was very even. Both teams had chances but then, straight at the start of the second half, a cross-cum-shot went over Harry’s head to make it 1-0 - then it all happened!

“It’s sort of been the pattern of our season, really, where we produce a lot of good quality football going forward, we create chances, we score goals. But, at the back, we have made too many mistakes.

“Ultimately, that has cost us being in the top five.”

While Bay were seventh in Isthmian South East this term for goals scored (74) and conceded (63), they kept only six clean sheets.

Lovell said: “Even the previous weekend against Cray, who won the league, there wasn’t much between the teams. A couple of defensive errors cost us the game (losing 4-2), otherwise we could have got something out of it.

“We went to Chichester before they went on their run and beat them 3-1 and played really well. There wasn’t much between the teams on Saturday.

“But teams don’t make the mistakes that we make. We don’t get simple goals, we have to really earn every goal that we score, whereas we have given teams goals