Sittingbourne manager Ryan Maxwell reacts to FA Trophy defeat on penalties to Ebbsfleet United

Sittingbourne boss Ryan Maxwell couldn’t have been prouder of his player after they pushed Ebbsfleet all the way in the FA Trophy on Saturday.

Maxwell’s part-time Brickies lost the second-round tie on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, the visitors scoring their equaliser in stoppage time.

The match went pretty much to plan for Maxwell, as they limited Ebbsfleet to few chances in the first half and stayed in the game during the second half.

“In football matches, there are things that you need, no matter who you're playing against,” said Maxwell.

“The bottom line is you need desire to win and you need the grit, determination and aggression within your performance. More so, you need that up against teams that are two levels above with a full-time status.

“If you don't have those ingredients, you've got no chance and we showed loads of that. We also showed a really good understanding of what the tactics were.

“You would say we'd done a job on them. To draw 1-1 against a team that are full-time, we planned for that. We planned potentially to take it to the wire and everything that happened today, we allowed that to happen. We planned for it, all within 40 minutes on a Thursday night, up against a team that’s had days to plan and rest.

“My boys were at work yesterday. To come away from home and produce that in 40 minutes of real tactical work, I just can't be prouder of that team. It was fantastic.

“The belief to go 1-0 down to then get an equaliser, you've got to have some guts about you to do that. We made a tactical change with three subs, changed it quickly, and that worked. I can't ask any more of the boys that came on.

“I'm unbelievably proud and to fall on the negative side of penalties is a lottery. It's not my