Herne Bay enjoy big wins over East Grinstead and Erith Town and prepare for a weekend game with Burgess Hill Town next

Back-to-back wins have given Herne Bay some breathing space in their battle against relegation in Isthmian South East.

Manager James Collins is a month into the job and a thumping 4-0 win over East Grinstead followed a 5-1 midweek thrashing of Erith Town.

With those two impressive away victories, Bay are now 10 points ahead of the bottom four in the table.

Collins will hope they can replicate that away form on home turf when they entertain play-off hopefuls Burgess Hill at Winch’s Field this Saturday.

A trip to Merstham follows next Saturday and Collins is keen to measure his team up against those higher up the table.

He said: “The players have shown in the last two games that they’re more than capable of playing well and being a force in this league.

“We’ve now got to do it against teams a little bit higher up and hopefully in the next two weeks we’ll come through with flying colours and have more answers than questions.

“We’ve played two teams in and around the mid-table area and now our next two games are against Burgess Hill and Mersham. It’ll be interesting to see how close we are, or how far away we are to those two teams.

“Burgess Hill had a great result against Hythe (winning 5-0) and it’ll be a different challenge for us.

“We’ve got to see where we are but obviously we’re going to it with good confidence.

“We’ve got 11 goals in our last three and we’ve only conceded one in our last two.

“We’re going to it in good form, as they do. I’m looking forward to seeing how far away we are, or how close we are.”

Goals from Scott Heard (2), Michael Salako and Liam Friend sealed the 4-0 win over East Grinstead Town at the weekend.

There has been steady progress for Bay under the new boss as they continue to put space