Littlehampton Town boss: Standard of this league has gone to another level

The Golds have struggled for form and results so far and find themselves 17th and only just outside the Isthmian south east division relegation zone as a result.

Their past two games have resulted in a 2-1 home loss to East Grinstead, with Josh Short on target, and, last Saturday, a 4-1 reverse at Herne Bay, when they had only a Nodirbek Bobomurodov goal to show for their efforts.

The Marigolds have had numerous blank weekends and have games in hand ober most of their rivals and Hand is looking forward to a regular run of games, starting at home to Sevenoaks on Saturday.

Hand said: “Results have been poor – there’s no two ways about it. East Grinstead at home was a game we could and should have won and was probably my most frustrating game since I’ve been in charge.

"What I will say is the standard of the league this year has gone to another level. That’s evident by having three sides from the division in the first round proper of the FA Cup.

"We’ve got to try to bridge that gap and that’s going to be difficult.

"It’s about managing our expectations and taking it game by game for us at the minute but I must admit the stop-start nature of the last few months hasn’t helped.

"We have five of our next six at home so will be looking to start picking up points and climbing the table.”