Sittingbourne play their first game of 2026 this weekend as they travel to face AFC Whyteleafe in the Isthmian South East “game of the day” with manager Reece Prestedge keen to maintain their great run.

After the disappointment of having the Swale derby with Sheppey United called off 90 minutes before kick off last weekend, Reece Prestedge’s side make the short trip round the M25 to face a home side who have excelled in their first season back in the Isthmian League and go into the weekend in fourth – one place and one point better off than the Brickies, who will be looking to continue their amazing run under their new boss which (going into the weekend) stands at twenty-five points out of a possible twenty-seven! 

Talking to KSN this week, Prestedge told us that he wasn’t surprised that his side eventually had a day off last weekend.

“It was very frustrating that the game was off, but when we got to Woodstock and looked at the pitch, I didn’t think that there was much of a chance that the game was going to be played.”

“By the time the referee turned up, it had loosened a little bit but there was a couple of areas where the shade was on the pitch, and it just wasn’t going to soften up in time.”

“For momentum wise and things like that, you don’t want the break that we have now had to have!” 

“I think it’s vital over the Festive period to get as many games in as you can whilst the weather isn’t great. That’s why sometimes that 3G at our level especially is a good place to go and play as at least you know and hopefully have the guarantee that the game is going to be on.” 

Prestedge was though able to take advantage of the postponement to go and see this week’s opponents as they drew 2-2 at third place Faversham Town, rallying from two goals behind at the break.

“A couple of the management team and a couple of the players went and watched them hoping to get a little insight on what they do and are about, so that was a little bit of a silver lining on the day.” 

“Whyteleafe play good football, they play a very good passing, ball domination sort of game. They are structurally very sound and so I would expect a good game on Saturday.” 

As we said, Saturday will be Prestedge’s tenth game in charge of Sittingbourne and even he can’t believe it’s that many already.

“When we came in we had I think something like six games in three weeks,” he told us, “it’s nice to have a run of Saturday, Saturday, Saturday if I am honest, and whilst last week was as I said very frustrating as in the back of your mind you do wonder if not playing will disrupt the momentum we have built up, we have been able to have very good sessions this week at training and are looking forward to getting back out there.” 

“We’re always looking to expand the squad – obviously it’s a tough period at the moment as there is a lot of competition around to get players. Players are happy where they are as well so you can’t really go too far into talking with them, but we are still looking to strengthen in areas that we think we need to, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks.”

Picture supplied by Paul Golding.