St Leonards manager Gary Bowyer has admitted his side will not win the County League.

Bowyer invited derision from opposition clubs after declaring Saints were going to win the title at a canter after they came down from the Dr Martens League last season.

Now after a quarter of a season he admits he got it wrong.

He said: "Despite my big predictions in the summer I cannot see us winning it now. We are not strong enough in depth compared to some of the other sides in this league.

"I don't think my comments helped because teams wanted to do well against us and every time we lost they would say 'up yours'.

"There is still a long way to go and you never know in football, but I have to start being realistic and accept that we are not going to compete with the top boys."

Bowyer blames injuries and the loss of strikers Simon Fox and Peter Baker for Saints' indifferent start to the season.

Fox and Baker both moved to local rivals Rye and Iden United just weeks after joining Saints.

Bowyer said: "I know everyone has injuries, but we seem to get them to all our key players at the same time. Nearly every week I have five or six out and I don't seem to have the same squad from one week to the next.

"Losing Baker and Fox was when it all started for us because just before they left I thought we had a squad good enough to go all the way."

Bowyer now believes either Three Bridges, Chichester or Rye will go on to win the title.

He said: "There are some very strong teams in this league and I would say Three Bridges are probably my favourites to win it. Chichester have a good team as well and with all the money Rye have I think they will be up there."