Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell glad he listened to Chris Harris after striker pleads for a start

Sittingbourne striker Chris Harris didn’t disappoint after begging his manager for a start.

Brickies boss Ryan Maxwell has been treading carefully with Harris while he regains match fitness following a pre-season ankle ligament injury.

But after scoring in substitute appearances against Ashford United in the Kent Senior Cup and Ashford Town (Middx) in the FA Trophy, Harris felt ready to start Saturday’s league game at Merstham.

He made his case to Maxwell, who’d been planning to name him on the bench, and had an excellent match as the visitors won 1-0 with a Donvieve Jones goal to go fourth in Isthmian South East.

“I was really pleased to have Chrissy Harris starting his first game for us - he made a huge difference to our approach,” said Maxwell, whose side visit Swale rivals Sheppey in the FA Trophy this Saturday (3pm).

“He begged me to start him to see how he got on and he ended up lasting 90 minutes.

“I was absolutely delighted with him and it gave everyone a lift having him out there from the start.

“We got to the ground and in my mind he wasn’t starting, the reason being he’d made two positive impacts from the bench, scoring an equaliser and a winner, and we’re trying to manage his minutes.

“I pulled him over and said, ‘Look, I think we’ll leave it one more week’ and he said, ‘Gaffer, please, I’m ready, I can give you 70 minutes’.

“I remember being a player and sometimes you have to support your players’ opinions and trust them.

“I’m glad we did because he’s better for it, we were better for it, he’s got 90 minutes under his belt and I’m delighted he pushed me to start him.”

Sittingbourne’s dominance was finally rewarded with Jones’ 85th-minute header.

The defender was the Brickies’ 12-goal leading scorer last