Clive Cook knows Hythe Town will have to win ugly at Shoreham on Saturday.

The Sussex side have struggled since winning promotion from the Southern Combination League but they held Hastings to a draw last weekend.

And Cannons boss Cook knows his players face a battle at Middle Road.

He said: “We’re trying to build it into them that sometimes you can’t play the pretty football.

“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly and make sure the result comes, whichever way you need to do it.

“We can do both, we can play good football or go ugly. As long as I get the three points, when the players cross the line, they decide.

“It’ll be like this on Saturday, Shoreham away. I had a report back from them on Saturday and I can see it being a messy game.

“They do all sorts of antics but we’ll go there and play our game. If we do what we’re good at, everything else takes care of itself. On our day, like a lot of teams, we can beat anyone.

“This is a bit of a banana skin, it’s not an easy game. When you’re bottom of the league, you just want to get away from the bottom.

“They’re new to the league, so they’re learning and it’s going to be a tough game. I don’t take any game easy – I don’t think you can afford to because you can come unstuck.

“This year there’s lots of teams involved and we’ve got to keep ticking the games off and keep winning the battles.”

Ryan Johnson is back after suspension, while Ashley Miller and Will Thomas could both play some part as they return from long-term injuries.

Callum Emptage is now kic­king a ball and Cook hopes to have him playing again by the middle of December.

“Once you get them back in, you know you’ve got strength in your squad,” Cook said. “At the moment, they’re all playing well.

“The whole squad’s battling, the buzz is there in training and they all want to be involved, which is fantastic. That comes from winning games.

“If you keep winning games, you get a bounce in your step.

“There’s a lot of games of football in November, so let’s get Christmas out of the way and then we’ll know what it’s all about.”