Ryan Maxwell’s Sittingbourne continue their pre-season with an away game at Cray Valley this Saturday after recent games against Biggleswade Town and Bishop’s Stortford

Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell still has plenty to do with the new season on the horizon.

Maxwell believes his side are moving in the right direction, even if they’re still a “work in progress” after a productive and busy pre-season so far.

The manager’s keen to get as many minutes into his side as possible ahead of the season opener and took his team on the road at the weekend, standing in as late replacements to face Southern League Central outfit Biggleswade Town in Bedford.

Maxwell squeezed in another game on Tuesday night to play Bishop’s Stortford, after the Hertfordshire side also found themselves without a midweek opponent.

The Brickies travelled over two hours at the weekend and Maxwell admits the long journey wasn’t exactly met with enthusiasm from his players.

“They weren’t over the moon, I can tell you that!” he said. “They were joking when we got there, ‘Gaffer, can you not find a friendly further away?’.

“To be fair, they treated us very well and it was a good game.”

Any travel fatigue was quickly forgotten on the pitch, as Maxwell’s men impressed - particularly in the first half - despite an early setback.

“We found ourselves 1-0 down from a penalty that probably wasn’t - there was no contact and the ball was going out,” said Maxwell.

“But we responded brilliantly. We played some great football, scored a tremendous goal, and had another wrongly chalked off for offside. I’ve seen it back - it wasn’t.”

The Brickies equalised before half-time and later added a goal from a set piece, both scored by Jean-Baptiste Fischer, with Maxwell pleased to see progress.

“We’re still trying to find what our best plan of attack is,” he said.

“With so many good footballers in the team, it gives us different options.