Clive Cook says Hythe must beat South Park on Saturday, otherwise they can forget about making the Ryman League Division 1 South play-offs.

The Cannons have lost form at the worst possible time, with Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Guernsey – a game in which they led 2-0 – extending their run to one win in eight games.

South Park have been playing four games a week in a bid to catch-up the rest of the league after their FA Cup and FA Trophy runs and remain in with a slim chance of the play-offs themselves.

While boss Cook admitted their form was awful, he said the most frustrating thing was that his side were still only four points outside the top-five with eight games left.

He said: “No excuses, at the moment we are not good enough. Some of the performances have been poor but we’ll never give up.

“I am disappointed, despondent, in our performances but that’s not just down to the players, it’s management, too.”

He added: “It’s a ridiculous league, the worst scenario in any league I have ever seen but it’s still not done. We have dropped away but because we had the points on the board already, we are still in it.

“We need to win on Saturday or you can forget it. They lost 3-0 on Monday, have Chatham (Wednesday night) and then us. They are getting tired.

“We need to finish properly. It’s still there for us, we are still not out of it, even after three points from 15 – which makes it even more frustrating. We’d have been in there with two more wins. Anything can happen still.”

Cook has been handed a boost by the news that striker Jay May could be fit for South Park.