Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell on new signing Sergio Uyi, formerly of Italian Serie A club Torino

New Sittingbourne defender Sergio Uyi learned from the masters.

Uyi was born in Nigeria but grew up in Italy, including a spell in the academy of Serie A club Torino.

The Italians have got defending down to a fine art and it was fitting Uyi helped Bourne to a clean sheet on his debut in a goalless draw at Ashford on Saturday.

He was sent off in the Brickies' last-minute 1-0 defeat at Hythe on Tuesday night but will be an asset as they work to climb away from danger in Isthmian South East.

Boss Ryan Maxwell had the centre-back on trial at Braintree and brought him to Sittingbourne after deciding to switch to a back three at Homelands.

“He came to Braintree for a little while but we were going through a period of clean sheets and wins and it was difficult to justify signing another centre-half,” said Maxwell, speaking before the Hythe game.

“He went elsewhere but he really caught my eye.

“I found out he was back in the country and I was looking at what I needed here and decided to give him a call to see what he was up to.

“I like his personality, he’s 6ft5in, he’s a tough, old-school defender who comes from that Italian background but he can also play as well and he’s a good athlete.

“He’s an unknown quantity to teams at this level and I still think he can progress at 29.

“I’m sure clubs will enquire about him and that’s not a problem for me. He’s not here to mess around.

“He had Joe Ellul alongside him in the three, who helped him through the game, which you’d expect verbally and with him being captain.”

Sittingbourne, who have also signed American-born midfielder Vincent Follea from Coggeshall, played well at promotion hopefuls Ashford.

There was little time to work on the new system but they soon adapted in a decent