James Collins is relishing the chance to help mould Herne Bay’s talented young players this season.

Defender Fenn Roberts, midfielder Alfie Hill and striker Vinnie Bowman have been among the Bay youth-team prospects to be handed senior opportunities since Collins became boss in February.

Monty Saunders, a midfielder, was also handed a start in an unfamiliar defensive role in last weekend’s 1-0 Isthmian South East loss at play-off chasing Merstham.

Collins said: “That was Monty’s first game at left-back for me. It was his first start.

“I didn’t know if he could play there or not. Skye Salmon was good at right-back and Sinnkaye Christie - after about a month out - did well at centre-half.

"Fenn Roberts and Alfie Hill have had lots of game-time, as well, recently.

“It’s good as a coach to give them opportunities to mould them into players you want to mould them in to.

“Monty put in a good performance after being ill all week. It was just a shame he had to come off.”

It was a second successive loss for Herne Bay - albeit both coming against teams challenging at the right-end of the table - as they dealt without experienced defenders Dan Carrington and Myles Judd at Merstham.

“We did okay again,” reflected Collins, who played Ethan Smith after the midfielder's red card in their 2-0 home defeat to Burgess Hill was successfully overturned last week. “We had quite a few players missing so the squad was a bit stretched.

“We’ve had a bit of illness floating around, as well, and players had to come off that weren’t feeling great. But we did okay with what we had. We’re just not quite at that level.

“It was a case of, if you’re in the play-offs, you find a way to win that one but, if you’re 17th, you find a way to lose.

“The players worked hard. It definitely wasn’t a backward step.”

Collins handed a start to one-time Manchester United goalkeeper Kie Plumley, who had previously played under him at Faversham and Bowers, with No.1 Harley Earle sidelined.

Collins said: “Kie hasn’t played a great deal of football this season.

“With Harley getting injured, we had to act quite quickly. I just dropped him a text to see if he was around and, thankfully, he was.

"He had a good debut.”

On Earle’s absence, Collins added: “I think he’s having it looked at this week so we should get a fuller idea on timescales and what’s exactly wrong.

“It’s just a cyst on his knee that came up after the previous weekend.”

Midfielder Jordy Ndozid made his first Bay appearance in three weeks off the substitutes’ bench at Merstham while forward Emmanuel Oluwasemo has now had international clearance to play.

“We’ve had confirmation Manny will now be available,” confirmed Collins. “Jordy came off the bench so, hopefully, that will help to bring him back into contention and Frankie Smith isn’t too far away.

“We’ve had quite a lot of numbers out since I’ve been at the club, but it’s given me a chance to look at other players, which has been nice.

“We’re nine points off the drop zone after Saturday’s game. If we can get that (secure safety), that’s job done.

“We have played with 11 men, we have played with 10 men, we have played on 3G pitches and bobbly pitches.

“It should give us a good head start for next season.”

Oluwasemo is another Collins has had at Faversham and Bowers, prior to a more recent stint playing professional football in Kosovo.

Collins said: “He has got loads of energy.

“He’s someone that has done quite well for me before. It was a bit of a no-brainer to get him when I realised he was back.”

Bay are set to host relegation-bound Lancing on Saturday.

“It’s a big match,” admitted Collins. “There’s not many teams below us in the league!

“Looking at all the games, they’re all tough. But if we play as well as we have done in the last two weeks, I’m looking forward to, hopefully, seeing us get three points.

“I’ve not won at home since I took over. We need to make sure we’re at it.

“If we’re not at it, it could end up looking like the Phoenix game (a 2-1 home loss in Collins’ first game in charge).

“All the things we have put in place, we need to continue doing them and, hopefully, that’s enough to get us the win.”