Nicky Southall hopes a change of scenery might be the key to break the slump which has left Whitstable on the brink of the relegation zone.

A combination of bad weather and cup success has left Town with a backlog of Ryman League, Division 1 South fixtures, although they were able to claim just four points from five games in 11 days, culminating in Tuesday’s 1-0 derby defeat at Herne Bay.

The reverse left Town just two places and two points above the drop zone.

Southall – who is planning on a playing return to help add on-field leadership and experience to his youthful squad – revealed he has made an important change to the Oystermen’s matchday preparations which he hopes will break their slide down the table.

He said: “We are switching the changing rooms over and going back to the old home dressing room. It’s something to try and get a reaction from them.

“It’s like anything in life if you get too familiar or you take things for granted. If you get a new job, you go to a new school, a new house, it gives you an excitement in the pit of your stomach. It’s a change of routine.

“Hopefully, the different surroundings and the different colours might freshen things up and maybe break the monotony a little bit. We’ve got to try.”

Southall originally swapped Town into the visitors’ dressing room as one of his earliest acts in charge in December 2012.

Southall bemoaned his side’s goals record this season, with Town bottom of the scoring table with 34 in 28 games.

He said: “If you aren’t scoring then you’re not going to win many games, even though our defensive record is one of the four or five best in the division.

“I’m looking to bring one or two in to help with that and I’ve spoken to a couple of players.”

He added: “We need some leadership out there on the pitch and I’ll look to dust off my boots this week. It’s not right to ask these young lads to go out there and run through these heavy pitches three or four times a week like they are.

“We are down there and we are looking over our shoulder but we still have 18 games to go and it’s up to us to start putting points on the board and getting some consistency.

“If we can pick up six points a week until the end of the season we should be more than comfortable, although five more wins should be enough to stay up.”

Town saw Thursday night's game with Guernsey at the Belmont postponed, but visit Worthing on Saturday while hosting Sittingbourne on Tuesday (7.45pm).