Herne Bay joint boss John Embery has said playing catch up on fixtures has impacted recent results.

Bay have been playing two, and at time three, times a week in the last month of the Bostik South season to get the fixtures completed.

With the last two matches of the season left, first against Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday, they are hoping for a strong finish.

Embery said: “The backlog of games has really killed us and we have been down to the bare bones. It is the first time that we have been struggling for players.

“As long as we have the players fit we should do well in our last two games of the season.

“The players will be up for it because they are good sides who are right up there. That’s been the problem of the season where we haven’t done well against some of the poorer teams.

“We are planning for promotion next season and want to finish strongly this year. We know we can get better and I hope the players will learn from this season and take that experience into next year.”

Bay’s form have dipped in recent weeks and have won just once in their last six matches.

This included a 0-0 draw at Molesey on Tuesday and a 3-1 defeat at home to Guernsey on Saturday.

Embery said: “It is the worst ground we have played at. It was not fit for purpose. It is the first time ever we have said to the players not to play on the ground because the pitch was so bad.

“We should have been out of sight in the first 20 minutes against Guernsey. We started well and went into cruise mode and they punished us.

“They deserved it and we thought it would be an easy game. The second half went the same way, we started well and then allowed them to score.”