Herne Bay boss Ben Smith hails the return of highly-rated left-back Raphe Brown

HERNE BAY manager Ben Smith has re-signed highly-rated left-back Raphe Brown, who has left VCD Athletic.

Brown spent two seasons at Herne Bay before departing to join their Crayford-based Isthmian League South East Division rivals.

“I’m happy to be back at Herne Bay,” Brown told the club website.

“It’s a great club with a very strong fan base. I look forward to returning and excited for Ben’s objectives of where we want to be this season.”

Smith is delighted to bring Brown back to Winch’s Field.

“We missed out on Raphe a year ago as he had left the club during the interim period before we came in, so it’s great to finally get the opportunity to work with him,” he said.

“I honestly think you’d be hard pushed to name better full-backs at this level than what we now have at the club, so it adds fantastic balance to the side.

“I’ve said many times that it would take time to build a squad that we want and we certainly grew throughout last season with the additions we made and this one definitely gets us much closer to where we aim to be.

“I think the fact that Raphe has come back to the club shows you how far we have come in such a short space of time and I know we have a player that is hungry to achieve and enhance his already high status with our supporters.”

Smith guided Herne Bay to a fifth-place position at the time of the coronavirus health pandemic that brought football to a halt in March.

Visit Herne Bay’s website: www.hernebayfootballclub.co.uk