Hythe Town boss Steve Watt believes his team are at last starting to produce the returns they are capable of.

Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 home win over bottom club East Grinstead made it 13 points from the last 18 for the Cannons, and put them just five points from the play-off positions in Isthmian South East.

Watt admitted the performance against Grinstead was far from being their most fluent, but reckons if they can maintain their present points-per-game ratio between now and the end of the season they will be there or thereabouts.

He said: “I was not necessarily pleased with how we played but I was happy with the win.

“I said to the boys beforehand, don’t look at this game and think it’s going to be a gimme and it turned out to be that way.

“I think we were quite comfortable, and barring a wonder strike they did not really cause us too many problems.

“I’d like to have seen us create a bit more but we did just enough and that’s 13 points out of the last 18, which is the type of return I’d expect our squad to be getting in this division.

“I’d have liked this type of form to have come a bit quicker but if you compare the team on Saturday with the one we put out for my first game I think only two of the starting XI are the same (Charlie Webster and Stephen Okoh).

“We’ve brought in virtually a whole new team and on top of that we’ve had a lot of injuries to deal with but we’re only five points off the play-offs.

“It’s a bit of a false position because other sides have games in hand but even if the gap was to go out to eight, or nine points I still think we’d not be out of the running.”

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Hythe’s winner was scored in the last minute by loan signing Sam Blackman, for whom the game was his last before being recalled by parent club Dartford.

Blackman scored four times in his five games for the Cannons and Watt hailed the impact made by the 24-year-old.

He added: “I said to Sam that he owed me two goals because he didn’t score last week (in the 3-0 defeat to Whitehawk). He’s been fantastic for us, he’s known more as a box-to-box player but I’ve played him slightly higher just off the strikers.

“I knew that if he got chances he’d put them away because he’s a good finisher.”

Watt admits he will probably look to add to his squad in the wake of Blackman’s departure but nothing is likely to happen before the home game with Sittingbourne on Saturday.

Alex Brown missed the East Grinstead match with a broken toe, but Watt was boosted by the return of skipper Webster in his first start since returning from a long-term ankle injury.

The manager said: “I knew when I saw Charlie against Whitehawk he was ready to start and apart from getting a bit of cramp he came through okay.”

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