Sheppey United beat East Grinstead in the FA Trophy to set up a tie against Sittingbourne; Ernie Batten’s side play Burgess Hill next in the FA Cup second qualifying round

Sheppey United’s interim manager Ernie Batten has praised his players for sticking with them despite a budget cut.

The Ites won 1-0 at East Grinstead last Saturday in the FA Trophy First Qualifying Round to set up a Swale derby in the next round against Sittingbourne.

Two FA Cup qualifying round wins and an unbeaten start to their Isthmian League season has made for a pleasing start to a campaign that started with a fair bit of turmoil off the pitch.

Director of football Batten remains in charge of the first team but revealed those players were asked to reduce their money following a reduction in budget after chairman Matt Smith departed.

Batten said: “The players have been excellent and we had to make a difficult decision to ask them to reduce what they had been offered by Jack (Midson, the former manager), because that budget was set when Matt was at the club.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the players, because they have all bought into that, nearly to a man they have reduced their weekly wage.

“In this day and age, players - sometimes maybe fairly or unfairly - are criticised for seeking every last penny. I think that says a lot about our group and the type of players we’ve got at the football club, I am very pleased with that.”

A goal from Danny Leonard won them the game at East Grinstead but Sheppey were forced to play with just 10 men for the final half-hour after centre-back Lekan Majoyegbe was sent off. The Ites were already missing fellow central defender Briggs Ojemen through an Achilles injury.

It’s meant Batten has been working hard on trying to bring in some defensive cover ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup Second Qualifying Round tie at home to league rivals Burgess Hill Town and their FA Trophy match with