Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell excited by side’s potential after starting the season with three wins out of three

Ryan Maxwell says Sittingbourne are nowhere near fulfilling their potential despite a perfect start to the season.

The Brickies made it three wins out of three with a 1-0 success at VCD in the FA Cup preliminary round on Saturday.

That followed 3-1 and 2-1 victories over Deal and Margate respectively in their opening Isthmian South East fixtures.

There’s plenty more to come from Sittingbourne, who host East Grinstead this Saturday and visit Swale rivals Sheppey United on Bank Holiday Monday (both 3pm).

“We’re still a work in progress,” said manager Maxwell.

“I’ll be really upfront and clear about that.

“We’re nowhere near what we could be but everything’s going in the right direction.

“How good could we be? That’s the exciting bit.

“That’s what gets me out of bed on a Saturday morning or when I’m going to take training sessions.

“I have a real buzz about my work and when I have the lads in front of me I know they haven’t reached their full capabilities yet, but they’re very willing and they want to get better.

“I think we know as a group this team will only get better.

“We’ve discussed that many times as a group and everyone’s well aware they have to continually improve, take on instructions and carry them out for us to get to where I can eventually see us getting to.”

Ellis Brown scored the only goal with nine minutes remaining as Sittingbourne finally made their dominance count at VCD.

They missed two penalties - Danny Parish’s early strike saved by Frankie Leonard and D’Sean Theobalds hitting the bar - while many more chances went begging before Brown’s winner.

Maxwell’s men have been drawn at home to AFC Croydon in the first qualifying round on Saturday, August 30.

“The scoreline was incredibly kind to VCD,” said