Herne Bay manager Ben Smith says it is 'now or never' in club's Isthmian South East play-off bid

It’s “now or never” for Herne Bay in their play-off bid, according to manager Ben Smith.

Bay missed out on more potentially valuable points on Saturday as they were held to a goalless draw at Burgess Hill in Isthmian South East, although Smith was fairly happy with his side’s overall performance.

It’s now three games without victory for sixth-placed Herne Bay, who are only out of the top five by a point ahead of this weekend’s home match against Chichester.

Smith said: “All we can do is win our games and see what happens above us. Since Christmas, with games in hand, the pressure has always been on us.

“But we have not got games in hand anymore. We have to try and win four games.

“It might not take four (wins for Bay to finish in the play-offs), and it won’t be easy, but our aim now is to win four games of football.

"I need a few players to put in 8 out of 10 performances rather than 7 out of 10 performances. That’s all it takes.

“It’s now or never, really.”

Smith was philosophical on whether the point gained in West Sussex was a good one.

“We will see at the end of the season,” he explained. “I thought we played really well on the day.

“I came away from Saturday with a lot of confidence, to be honest. Everything we worked on in training, I saw.

“We made some tactical changes. I thought the boys did well in the game - it just wouldn’t go in!

“To be fair, earlier in the season, it was a bit more one-sided (as the sides played out a goalless draw at Winch’s Field in November).

“Throughout the season, I have always been ‘Don’t lose the game trying to win it’ - but we were certainly not thinking that way on Saturday.

“We had some scary moments where they missed some chances but, at the moment, we need to do something a bit