Herne Bay player-boss Liam Friend calls on team to snap out of recent slump as 1-0 defeat to Sevenoaks Town makes it back-to-back home Isthmian South East defeats

Player-manager Liam Friend is calling upon Herne Bay’s players to snap out of their recent slump.

Bay were edged out 1-0 at home by Sevenoaks as they suffered a second successive Isthmian South East loss on Saturday.

It’s two wins in nine matches for play-off chasing Bay, who have struggled to find much consistency this season.

“We’re just not getting it right,” said Friend. “We’re struggling to perform at home.

“Two home defeats on the bounce isn’t good enough and not acceptable. We need to snap out of it and get with the programme.

"We’re not showing how good we are.

“On training nights, I look at us and think ‘That’s a good team’ - but we’re not putting that on the pitch, which is disappointing. We have got good players in general.

“Sevenoaks turned up to play away from home - because they were away from home. There’s nothing wrong with that.

“If you play well and have a few chances, they then nick one, that’s one thing. But we didn’t really even look like that on Saturday.

“I felt a draw probably would have been the fair result because neither team did enough to warrant the win. They had one shot on target, it was a very well-worked goal, but it came from their only shot on target.

"Of course, results can happen in football.

“But if you walked away on Saturday and said ‘What were Herne Bay trying to do?’ I’m not sure many people would have been on the same page.

“We have a good away record, which is nice and we hope to continue that, but we need to perform at home, as well.”

Friend has seen enough from his team at stages this term to know they can perform much better than they are - they remain the sole side to have taken points off Sittingbourne since close friend Reece Prestedge took charge at Woodstock - but he’s