Hastings United boss Ronnie Dolan does not think a run of three straight home defeats is down to nervous players – and insists: We’ll get back on track.

United went down 3-0 to Sevenoaks on Tuesday night, soon after home reverses to Faversham and Deal. It was a setback after a fine 3-0 win at Cray Valley PM had put them back on top of the Isthmian South East table.

Dolan insists it’s still been a great start to the season and they’re ahead of where they expected to be. And he’s ready to try to get them back to their best home form against Steyning tomorrow.

"Sevenoaks are another very good team – they move the ball well and work hard as a team – they’re very athletic and quick on the counter.

Ronnie Dolan says Hastings United can rediscover the home form they showed at the start of the season | Picture: Ben March

placeholder image — Ronnie Dolan says Hastings United can rediscover the home form they showed at the start of the season | Picture: Ben March

"We weren’t really at the races. As much as we were battling we weren’t really hurting them like we should have done or how we know we can. That’s something we’re looking to rectify.

"The red card didn’t have a big effect on the game, I don’t think. We’ll never know if having 11 men would have kept us in the game til the end and got us a point or something out of the game. We can’t do much about that.

"There wasn’t much in it to be a red card but it’s two yellows and that’s the way it is in football these days – you have to be very careful.

"But our performance wasn’t ‘at it’ – and that’s maybe down to a lot of games in short space of time. I think in the past couple of months we’ve only had one week where we haven’t had a Tuesday game. We’ve played a lot of games in a short space of time, as has everyone, but I think we’re running on a slightly smaller squad, though a very good squad.

"That’s always going to take its toll at some point. It’s now a case of can we freshen it, can we build on it, can we look to add one or two to freshen the squad up a little and see what we can do from there. We’ve got another Saturday-Tuesday this week and there’s a lot of football to play in the season.

"We’ve come through this period doing okay – we’re okay in the league, we have a lot of points on the board considering we’re a very yojng squad and we’ve rebuilt in the summer. I think we’re ahead of where we expected to be so all in all I’m pretty happy – it’s just a case of can we add to it and try to find more consistency as a team.”

Asked if home form dip could be down to nerves he said he didn’t. “I think it’s a blip that we’ll get over. We started off so well at home this season and it’s now a case of can we freshen it up a little, whether that’s bringing players in or rotating players we have in the squad already and trying to find the right formula at home again – whether that’s changing shape or changing personnel.

"We’ll look into those things as a management but I do think everyone during a season knows you’re not going to win every home. It’s not ideal losing three home games in a row so we’ll look at it. Whoever can keep that consistency through the season will do well. Having a young and newly built squad, it’s hard to get that consistency.

"It’ll take a bit of time but we’re ahead of where we wanted to be this season. I’m pretty pleased and we’ll see how we go from here.”

Three days earlier it was a 3-0 win at Cray Valley PM courtesy of goals by Kes Clarke, Warren Mfula and Sam Pidgeon.

Dolan said: “Iit was a good win. I wouldn’t say we were on top from the word go. They created quite a few opportunities first half which ex expcted, because they’re a good team with very good players in attacking areas.

"We expected them to come at us and, being at home, to creat opportunities, which they did. But unfortunately for them, they didn’t take them – and when we created our own chances, we did and we punished them.

"I keep saying to our boys, when we get opportunities we have to punish teams.Normally we get punished so it was nice for us to be on the other side of it, punishing a team for not taking their chances.

"The second half we dominated – I think they only had one shot in the half and it was a fairly comfortable save for Harry. So it was a good away win and good performance all round.

It’s Steyning next at the Pilot Field and Dolan said: “Every game is tricky – every opposition team have their own threats and can cause you problems. We have to concentrate on how we deal with that and get on the front foot, and can we create and take chances. I genuinely think that if we go back to what we were doing at the start of the season, particularly at home, teams won’t be able to deal with us. We’ve got to find that consistency.

"Steyning we will give the respect they deserve. We’ll have trained hard and gone over a few things but we expect a tough game. Every game in this league. We aim to go into Saturday and look to rectify Tuesday.

"Then we have Whitehawk in the senior cup. You want to win every game, whether it’s a cup or league match. And with the final being at the Amex, it would be amazing to get there. If we win it’s happy days but if we fall short yet we’ve turned up and put in a performance but luck isn’t on our side, that’s fair enough. But we want to win it."