Sittingbourne are back on the track of an Isuzu FA Trophy giant-killing this weekend when they make the short trip up the A2 to face Josh Wright’s Ebbsfleet United in a fascinating local derby on the Road to Wembley. 

The Brickies reached the last eight of the competition last year but head for the Kufflink Stadium on Saturday after three consecutive single goal League defeats in the last ten days.  

“It’s a massive game for us, a derby away from home against a full-time team, two leagues higher than ourselves; a real David and Goliath fixture,” Brickies boss Ryan Maxwell told us this week. 

“We’ve enjoyed tremendous success in the Trophy last season, we played and beat two teams from the same division as Ebbsfleet but I do think that this is a much harder game than the previous encounters just because they are full-time so we will be really up against it on Saturday!” 

“But my team have thrown up many-a-shock in the past, and we have already beaten two teams from the league above us on the way to the Second Round, so of course it’s possible, of course we will be planning to do so.  

“We have the right blend in the team of experience and youth – it’s not going to be a game that’s too big for some of the guys as we have the right experience in there which away from home we are going to need.” 

“We have to enjoy it; we will run towards the challenge head-on, we feel confidence and have the right mentality, and I am certainly looking forward to it!” 

“We have been so used to winning that of course defeats hurt. The bottom line is that we went thirty games unbeaten last year so to lose a couple on the spin is very unique for us here – albeit three away matches by one goal. So, I don’t think you should read too much into it if you are looking at it objectively and you have to take it for what it is.  

“We didn’t hold onto a lead away to the league leaders on Saturday and lost in very difficult conditions on Tuesday night at Margate which was such a scrap that it could have gone either way due to the wind. Ultimately the conditions were there for both sides, no excuses, we didn’t deal with them the right way in my opinion – we should have dealt with them a lot more in the first half and we didn’t do enough.” 

“We still have two games in hand on some teams above us in the league but right now we have to focus on the job at hand on Saturday.” 

“We know we can raise our game; we know that this team is capable of a massive performance as we have beaten two teams from a league above already – this team can perform when it matters! We will have to have our absolute very best day of course but we can do it, and we all need to be positive about the upcoming game on Saturday.”