Sheppey United pick up a point with home draw against Herne Bay and travel to Beckenham Town in the Isthmian South East this Saturday

Sheppey United coach Ira Jackson says their weekend draw with Herne Bay felt like a win.

The Ites went into the game with five straight defeats behind them and a habit of conceding some sloppy goals. The home draw ended that losing run and also showed they’re capable of keeping the ball out of their own net.

Jackson, who was on the bench with the management team for the first time at the weekend, said: “It was important for the boys to realise that they can take pressure and not concede.

“What we’ve shown this season with set-pieces and defending crosses is that there is an area of frailty there but for want of a better word, we took some punishment over the 90 minutes on Saturday and came out with a clean sheet and realistically should have won, because we had the better chances.

“It’s not three points but it’s a win because now the boys can go into the last nine games with the confidence that we don't actually have to concede. It's almost like you watch a few of the games before and it's a foregone conclusion that we're going to concede.

“Sometimes you have to start with stopping rots, you have to start with stopping the leaks. We can build from what we did on Saturday, although it wasn't pretty and it wasn't as expansive as we wanted it to be on the ball.

“It was a strong performance in terms of the back four were solid. In the second half we were a lot more solid as a unit as well. First half we were a bit all over the place. At half-time we had a chat with the boys and sorted out the structure.

“We managed to thwart pretty much every opportunity they had and reduced them to just kicking it long and hoping for the best. So it was good.”

It was good for the coach to take to the bench also, rather than watching from