Sittingbourne running their own fantasy football-style competition to be the best player in Ryan Maxwell’s promotion-chasing squad

Sittingbourne players are running their own competition to be the club’s top performer.

Boss Ryan Maxwell has revealed there is a fantasy football-style challenge among the squad.

Players accumulate points in areas such as appearances, clean sheets, goals and assists, and it’s proving a big hit with the Brickies in great form this season.

Maxwell has stayed out of it but is well aware of the competition within his squad.

“It’s like a fantasy football league so whoever does what in a game, it goes in a points system,” said the Brickies manager.

“It’s brilliant, and it’s fun, but there’s a competitive edge to the fun as well. Somebody breaks it down and the points get put in their group every Sunday. It’s quite funny.

“I think Liam Smith’s winning at the moment.

“As a defender, he’s scored a few goals, had a lot of clean sheets and he’s played a lot of games.”

Brickies players know they have to keep standards high, with Maxwell rotating his starting XI all season.

He’s built a competitive squad and isn’t shy of using it.

The group have bought into his approach and the good habits must continue as Sittingbourne fight for the Isthmian South East title and bid to extend their record-breaking FA Trophy run.

“You’ve got to be confident but you can’t be complacent,” said Maxwell.

“No matter who you are, if you’re complacent, you can be beaten, and that happens all the time at the very top level of football.

“Complacency isn’t allowed, it’s what’s next, what’s the next goal, what can we do to improve?

“People have got to keep focusing on getting better and doing more.

“It’s not enough to stand still because they’ll find themselves maybe not at the club.

“The clean sheets (13 this season and counting) are an example of how hard