Steve Lovell is ready to freshen up his Ramsgate squad after they lost top spot at the weekend.

Rams slipped to third in Isthmian South East, behind Chatham and Ashford on goal difference, after a 4-2 home defeat by Sevenoaks on Saturday.

Boss Lovell is exploring his options in a bid to ensure their good start to the season doesn’t go to waste.

“We’re one or two players short of where we want to be,” he said.

“We’ve got a few injuries in the squad still and we need to freshen things up a little bit to keep everyone on their toes.

“We need to try and do that in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s not a case of getting carried away because we’ve lost a game - we’ve had a good start to the season and the boys have been great - but you can’t let things drift.

“I want to keep us on top and keep pushing forward and that means you might have to address things.

“The chairman (James Lawson) is brilliant, everybody at the club is fantastic.

“They’re fully supportive of me and Mark (Lovell, assistant manager) and Lee Hook (coach).

“They’ve said whatever we need to do, go and do it. They’re very good and if it comes to a point where I need to get a deal done, I go to them and it’s up to them.

“They’re ambitious people, they love their football and they want to be successful.

“It’s important we keep reminding the players of that, of all the work that goes in behind the scenes.

“To be fair, they do realise that, but I don’t want to get into a rut where we’re losing games and before you know it, you’re in mid-table.

“We want to stay up there and to do that, you must make sure you stay on top of things.”

Ramsgate, who visit Burgess Hill this Saturday, have rewarded leading scorer Ashley Miller with a contract.

Miller took his tally to nine goals at the weekend, scoring Ramsgate’s second against Sevenoaks.

TJ Jadama opened the scoring but the visitors rallied to lead 3-1 and made sure of the points after Miller’s late goal gave Rams hope.

Lovell said: “I felt Ashley needed to be given a little bonus for what he’s been doing, and the chairman agreed.

“He’s been excellent for us and I felt he deserved to be put on contract and looked after.

“It’s peace of mind for players. If they know they’re secure and are happy, it makes you play freer and that showed on Saturday, because he played really well again.

“He’s the only forward scoring goals at the moment, which is something we might need to look at.”

Jordan Chiedozie, who was earmarked as Miller’s strike partner this season, remains out with a knee injury.

He’s making progress but Rams don’t know when he’ll play again.

“Jordan’s still a long way off,” said Lovell. “It’s a shame because we thought him and Ashley would be a good partnership.

“He’s having treatment and he’s saying there’s a slight improvement every day.

“He’s had problems with his knee before. This is a recurrence of it. He’s a great lad and hopefully we get him back.”