Sittingbourne returned to winning ways last weekend with a win over East Grinstead Town, but as they get ready for the Kent Derby at Homelands this weekend, their preparations have been overshadowed by the horrific injured that defender Mike Turner suffered during the game. 

Brickies boss Ryan Maxwell has been talking to KSN about what happened – “it was great to get a win, of course it was, the boys were eager to get playing and put right what happened when we lost to Chichester, and they did that!” 

“But what a massive cloud over it having lost a player for the remainder of the season and some considerable time thereafter I would suspect.”

“Mike (Turner) suffered a triple leg break and a dislocation of the ankle, but he has had his operation since the weekend, and I suppose theoretically now he’s on the mend.”

“It was a terrible injury and he’s going to need a lot of support which of course we will give him – we certainly wanted to win that game for Mike; we spoke about that immediately it happened.”

“We brought the players together whilst he was being treated on the pitch and we all agreed to do it for him – simple as that!” 

“Mike was a “trojan” when it happened – took it like a real man! The win was overshadowed most definitely, but we dedicate it to Mike.” 

“There was a concern on how the boys would react, but you have to commend the boys and give credit where credit is due; they could have easily been distracted – one because they have seen a bad injury and two he’s a team mate and friend.”

“So the concern is only natural and that could have outweighed the focus of the job at hand. But we had a good chat about that and how important it was that we focused on winning it for him and I think that realigned them and to a man they were ultra-competitive after that.”

“Real credit to my boys for handling it the way they did as ultimately it got us the win!” 

Strikes from Danny Parish and Mitch May sealed the points for Sittingbourne.

“Two excellent goals from two men in form,” the Brickies boss enthused.

“Danny should have scored two, but the one he did get was an excellent quality finish. We are spoilt with Mitch as we expect him to score quality goals – another brilliant goal and he nearly got another, but for the keeper making a good save as well as hitting the post in the first half – it is great to see the boys in fine form and two excellent finishes.” 

Maxwell takes his side down the M20 this weekend to face Ashford United at Homelands.

“We know Ashford pretty well,” he told us. “We know what to expect on a 4G surface and we are completely focused. We have trained very well this week as we know that they are a team that can hurt you and we will need to be at our best.”

“We will have to make sure that we are switched on and make sure they give it all the respect that it deserves, and we come away with the win!”