Herne Bay manager Steve Lovell would be happy with mid-table Isthmian South East finish this season as the side look to build for the future

Boss Steve Lovell insists a mid-table finish would represent a good season for Herne Bay.

Bay have struggled to build on last term’s eighth-placed Isthmian South East finish and find themselves just above the relegation zone in 16th.

Three goals in seven second-half minutes saw them lose 4-0 at home to title-chasing Sittingbourne on Tuesday. It came after keeper Josh Bexon was red-carded early on in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Ashford.

But Lovell is still confident Bay’s squad will come good.

He said: “We have played all the top sides over this period.

“We have played Ramsgate twice, Beckenham and Sittingbourne - they’re the teams towards the top and teams in form. The words ‘in form’ make a huge difference, they have built momentum.

“We’d had two good results before this week but we probably didn’t play as well as we did on Tuesday in either of them. We will get it right.

“I’ve got a really good squad, which I’m happy with this year. We will win more games than we will lose between now and the end of the season.

"I just need people back from suspensions and injuries, like Jack Parter, who was out on Tuesday.

“We want to finish mid-table. If we can finish higher, that’s brilliant.

“But this year was always going to be about building for the future. We have got some youngsters coming through and we just need to build for the next year or two.

“It’s about getting the club to where it should be in the long run, putting on performances the supporters can be proud of. We have got really good and knowledgeable supporters.

“They understand, for most of the game on Tuesday, we were in the game against a really top team so we’re not far away.

"But it will take time.”

Bay were holding Ryan Maxwell’s red-hot Brickies to a goalless