Sittingbourne look to make it six wins out of six under new boss Reece Prestedge as they make the short trip down the Thanet Way to face Liam Friend’s Herne Bay at the Crest Stadium, Winches Field.

The Brickies came from behind to beat Hassocks on Tuesday to lift themselves into the play-off places to keep up their amazing run under the new boss, and he’s been talking to KSN before the weekend’s derby.

“You have to be happy with any win you get but to get five in a row is amazing, and we are in a good place at the moment,” he admitted. “When we came in to hit the play-off places at least was the plan to be fair. We had the belief that we could do it, but we knew it was going to be hard and knew it would be tricky, but the boys have pulled things out – they have been excellent performance wise, individually and collectively, so it’s got to be all round credit to be fair.”

In Tuesday’s win, Derek Asamoah and his son Zayshaun both got on the scoresheet after coming off the bench leaving the manager admitting “Del has good pedigree obviously! He is a proper pro – at his age (Asamoah senior is 44) and he’s still playing, he’s still sharp, he’s still looking energetic and that’s a credit to him.

“He’s made memories for a lifetime Tuesday – really pleased for them both! Zay is very sharp, very quick, confident and he has that spark, that sprite, that I really like and the hunger! He was at training before I came back to the Club, and Derek asked if he could keep coming and I said yes, and when I was told he’s only 21, that’s the perfect age for what I am looking at. Saw him in training and made a decision there and then that I wanted to get him involved.”

“We’re still looking for new players, and I am very hopeful of one new face on Saturday which is one that I have worked on, and I am really pleased to get that over the line.”

Prestedge actually returns to a former Club at the weekend as after leaving Sittingbourne in the summer, he filled in at the Crest Stadium for a period as he explained. “Liam (Friend) is a good mate of mine – we played together – we stayed mates away from football; our characters are very similar football-wise – both very angry people – he asked me to help out because his assistant was going away and he needed someone with experience on the sideline. It was always going to be short-term; I went there, enjoyed it to help out.”

“It hasn’t surprised me how well he’s done in his first manager’s job. He knows the level above, he’s very experienced, he knows the game and reads it well himself. I am not surprised that he is doing well on the “other” side of the game!”

Image courtesy of Paul Golding