We’ve stood toe to toe with many of the big hitters in our league despite being in a tougher financial position than many of the teams in our league, says Sittingbourne boss Darren Blackburn

SITTINGBOURNE manager Darren Blackburn says he is tageting a top-half finish but also revealed that he is working under financial adjustments at Woodstock Park.

The Brickies are in seventh-place in the Isthmian League South East Division table, having picked up 48 points from their 32 league games.

Sittingbourne are unbeaten in four games and are 10 points adrift of the play-off zone, which is currently occupied by Ashford United, Ramsgate, Cray Valley and Haywards Heath Town.

“Overall, I’m so far been fairly pleased with our season. We’ve let ourselves down in a very minimal amount of games, which is a great achievement when you consider how young the majority of our squad have been,” reflected Blackburn.

“We’ve stood toe to toe with many of the big hitters in our league despite being in a tougher financial position than many of the teams in our league.

“The squad have been great.  I think we recruited fairly diligently across player attributes and many of the lads have been here all season, their attitudes have been first class, their work-rate and commitment have been unquestionable and we just need to keep that up for the remaining fixtures.

“We’ve slipped away a little from the play-off places but we still want to win all of our remaining matches regardless.”

The Isthmian League transfer window slammed shut at five o’clock yesterday and Blackburn revealed his hands are tied when trying to bring in new players to Woodstock Park for their last six games.

He said: “Despite a very limited squad, only naming 14 players for each of the last two or three fixtures, we considered making additions but with the financial adjustments we’ve had to make recently, it didn’t make too much sense and I felt we’d struggle to add real quality or anyone who could make an impact with the limited funds available now.

“However, we’ve signed four or five of our under 18’s who have been training with us the last two or three weeks officially and given them some exposure to first-team training, although most have already trained with us at some point this season.

“The club has made so many improvements on the off the field and that was my goal when I took over, just to make any improvements we could.

“The chairman gave me one task when I took over and just said ‘get some smiles back on the players’ faces’ and Maurice Dunk and the rest of the board have been so supportive and I think we’ve been fairly successful in doing that.

“The club needed a solid sustained season to assist with future recruitment and to get opponents and players’ taking Sittingbourne serious in the league again.

“After narrow defeats to Hastings and Cray Valley, I challenged the lads to go the rest of the season unbeaten and since then we’ve gone four games unbeaten.  The guys needed to be motivated and a challenge to focus on these remaining games.

“We don’t look at what others are doing or what they’ve won etc. We don’t begrudge any other club success, but success for us is a solid top half finish this season, giving our brilliant fans something to cheer about as often as we can and something to hopefully build on next season.”

Sittingbourne travel to play a Ramsgate side that have lost their last two games, against Corinthian (3-1) and Whitehawk (2-1).

“Ramsgate will be a tough game tomorrow. It’s on a 3G pitch, so it’ll suit their style of play,” added Blackburn.

“Whilst we’ve had to tighten our belts and keep a small squad they seem to be signing players for fun the last two weeks and I don’t hear of many leaving so Matt Longhurst has got plenty of choice and quality down there and good luck to them, they’ve had a great season.

“We’ve got one or two players’ missing this week but as always we’ll get the lads up for it and give it a real go.”

Ramsgate  v  Sittingbourne
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 26 March 2022
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 0AN