Herne Bay player-manager Liam Friend pleased with squad’s strength-in-depth - but hasn’t ruled out adding further firepower - as they make it four Isthmian South East wins in a row

Liam Friend is pleased with the strength-in-depth Herne Bay’s squad has got - but hasn’t ruled out adding further firepower.

Bay claimed an impressive 2-1 Isthmian South East home win against Merstham last weekend despite finishing the match with 10 players after defender Joe Alatise was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Veteran midfielder James Rogers, 40, striker James Jeffrey and midfielder Jamie Lartice were introduced in the second half as Herne Bay defended their lead after first-half goals by top scorer Kamani McFarlane and forward Alfie Bloomfield put them in control.

“We’re probably still one or two attackers light on the bench,” said Bay player-boss Friend. “But we want a squad.

“A couple of players have left, not wanting to buy into our squad. All the players that came on did a good job on Saturday.

“To be fair to JJ (Jeffrey), when he came on, he probably played in two or three different positions in the 20 minutes or so he was on for!

“But a special mention to Alfie, who JJ came on for, as he had absolutely run himself into the ground.

“That’s what we want - and expect - from our players.”

It meant Friend saw both sides of his team’s game in their victory against the Moatsiders.

He reflected: “I was really pleased with the performance.

“The first hour was easily the best we have played this season. We looked really solid at the back, we created a lot of opportunities and probably the only negative was we didn’t take our chances.

“Then, I was really pleased for a different reason after a bit of a silly second yellow from big Joe. It sort of changed the game a little bit.

“After that, I was pleased for a different reason - the resilience, the doggedness and our great team shape. Even then, I felt we had