Sittingbourne manager Darren Blackburn sees value in mixing up their game

Darren Blackburn is happy to see Sittingbourne take the direct route if it keeps their Isthmian South East play-off hopes alive.

The Brickies boss went with an old-school 4-4-2 formation at Whitstable on Saturday, pairing big strikers Kane Rowland and Johan Caney-Bryan up front.

It paid dividends with Rowland opening the scoring and Toby Bancroft also on target in a 2-0 victory that moved Bourne four points off the top five in eighth place.

“We were more direct on Saturday with the two up top, and it worked,” said Blackburn.

“We’ve only played 4-4-2 a couple of times before - it worked well against Faversham when we beat them 3-1 but with different personnel at Hythe it didn’t work at all.

“If you go 4-4-2 those four lads in midfield have really got to put a shift in, especially the two in the middle, and the strikers have got to be prepared to drop in and help out when they can.

“If you’ve got the personnel you can apply it and I think it’s something that can work for us.

“It’s great playing through the thirds but if you lose possession and get turned over in your own half, you can be in trouble.

"Sometimes, if you go more direct, you can get up the pitch and play from there.

“When you put teams under pressure in this league, and ask questions, they haven’t always got the answers.

“It’s definitely something we’ve got to look at, we can’t be a one-trick pony because there’s such varied opposition.

“If you’ve got Johan and Kane up top, who are both good in the air and both good, hard runners, without being rapid, they will always give centre-halves a tough day at the office."

Sittingbourne, beaten 1-0 at home by Burgess Hill on Tuesday last week, face a big few weeks in their play-off bid.

They host Chichester at