Sittingbourne always looked the stronger in a dull game that took an hour to come to life and were indebted to some superb finishing from their ex-Gillingham striker Lee Browning for putting away the few chances that came his way.

Casuals for their part looked low on confidence and shorter still on ideas of how to break down a solid defence and will need to win at least five of their last ten games if they are not to rely on more jiggery-pokery of the non-league structure to retain their place at Ryman One level.

A desperately poor first half provided just a couple of half chances in the first 28 minutes. The first came from a high bouncing ball that nearly dropped under the bar after a freakishly high bounce deceived Casuals keeper Colin Harris and the other a drive across goal by Browning from the edge of the box.

Given his later clinical finishing, this must go down as a glaring miss.

When the goal did arrive it was an anti-climactic effort.

Toby Ashmore swung in a left footed corner from the Sittingbourne right and under some pressure Harris went up for a catch but finished by dropping it behind his head and over the line.

The only Casuals efforts of note came from Andre McCollin in the closing few minutes, both well struck left footed efforts and both a yard or so wide.

A nice Casuals move just after the restart saw a series of one twos played around the Kent team's penalty area and end with Kane Sergeant driving a low shot straight at Josh Willis.

Three goals in six manic minutes around the hour mark then gave the score line a gloss it did not deserve.

Sittingbourne doubled their lead with a fine solo goal from Browning.

Picking up the ball 30 yards out, he embarked on a scything run through the Casuals back line, evaded several tackles and finished in some style to Harris' right.

Five minutes later Sergeant halved the lead with a curling free-kick that was looking for a target, but everyone missed and the ball continued on its way and into the far corner of Willis' net with the keeper rooted to the spot.

That should have been the start of a stirring last half-hour but instead Casuals were caught with a classic sucker punch inside a minute. Browning collected a ball from the left, turned 18 yards out and struck a fine left foot shot past Harris and in off a post.

Martin Dunne almost got Casuals back into it with a close range header but Hicham Akhazzan was in the right place at the right time and headed off the line.

Hard though Casuals tried to get back into the game they always looked more likely to concede on the break than score themselves.

Sure enough, a huge up and under into their box in the last minute dropped at the feet of Browning and he again turned sharply to direct a close range shot past Harris.

With Tooting, Dover, Hastings, Fleet and Dartford among the ten teams left to play, finding those crucial five wins is going to be a real test for Brian Adamson and his players. With the influential Jamie Byatt available again next week after serving his suspension and the hard tackling midfielder Aaron Colt-Bolt back the game after Adamson will hope to have some more bite in his side for the run in.

Casuals: Colin Harris, Martin Dunne, Dale Hennessy, Ben Ward (Harry Holloway 77), Chris Horwood, Craig Dunne, James Moran (Daniel Green 46), Kane Sergeant, Andre McCollin, James Goodwin (Lee Hall 70), Matt Smith Subs not used: Tyrone Myton, Will Harvey Attendance: 107 Yellow Cards: Craig Dunne (86), Martin Dunne (87) Red Cards: None