Steady, unspectacular but increasingly effective: Kingstonian fans don't mind as long as the results keep coming.

A 1-0 win at East Thurrock United on Saturday made it seven points in four league games under the direction of assistant manager Mark Hams and the 35-year-old praised the players for making the best of a difficult situation.

“I've enjoyed [being in charge],” he said.

“I get a lot of practice making decisions because I run the academy but this is different.

"It's about getting a lot of things right. It's been a good learning curve and I'm lucky to be working with a good bunch of players.”

Hams has had a long and successful working relationship with manager Alan Dowson and is looking forward to welcoming him back from illness.

“It's obviously better that he returns with us on a good run than after losing games,” added Hams.

Defensive solidity was again the key at Rookery Hill, with Chris Page, Kingstonian's “player of the season so far” in Hams's view, a quiet influence at right-back.

“It's such an important role he plays,” said Hams.

“Unless you understand football you won't understand how good he's been.”

Another player who has shone in the darker days of this year, Sam Clayton, scored the winner in the 60th minute, with a 20-yard left-foot shot that East Thurrock keeper Richard Wray allowed to trickle past his fingers on the stretch.

“It was a bit of a scrappy goal but Sam's left foot is working well for us at the moment,” said coach Martin Tyler, who added that he thought the side had stayed “tight and strong” and were becoming “confident defensively” after the heavy losses earlier in the season.

It was, in the end, a deserved win against Ryman North champions who had made the FA Cup first round last month.

Ks went close on a number of occasions, the best chances coming just before half-time when Ian Gayle shot straight at the keeper from six yards, Jamie Byatt struck the bar with the rebound before Gayle fired the returning ball over the top.

Byatt, in particular, looks like a player with the balance and wit to lift the team offensively, whatever the formation.

After a run of five away games Ks finally return to Kingsmeadow next Sunday for a derby against Leatherhead.