Sittingbourne boss Ryan Maxwell on a challenging Christmas that sees the Brickies face Swale rivals Sheppey and title favourites Ramsgate and Cray Valley

Ryan Maxwell believes Sittingbourne’s Christmas and New Year schedule is as tough as it gets.

Boss Maxwell can’t wait to get stuck into three big games as Bourne look to build on a fine start to the season.

They remain third in Isthmian South East going into Swale derby at Sheppey on Boxing Day.

That’s followed by back-to-back matches against the two title favourites, with Bourne off to Cray Valley on Saturday, December 30 before hosting Ramsgate on New Year’s Day.

All three fixtures are 3pm kick-offs.

“If I were to do a little recap on our season so far I would say it’s maybe just about where we’d expect to be,” said Maxwell.

“We’d probably want to be a little bit further on in terms of points, and we deserve to be as well.

“But we’ll take where we are and we look forward to putting our foot to the floor.

“I believe there’s more to come from this team so I’m looking forward to the turn of the year.

“You can only directly affect your opposition when you’re playing against them.

“So these games over Christmas and New Year are the games I look forward to and I know the players are too.

“We’re confident and we understand it’s going to be vital to take points off these teams, home or away.

“It’s an exciting time of the season and the games we’ve got coming up add to that.

“It’s as tough as it gets and if we come through it with flying colours that’ll be a fantastic achievement and set us up nicely for the push going forward.”

Sittingbourne gave debuts to new signings Michael Turner and Stefan Ilic in a 3-0 home win over Merstham on Saturday.

Turner, a defender who’s signed on dual-registration from Romford, started, while attacking midfielder Ilic, a man Maxwell worked with at Braintree, set up two goals after coming off the