Sittingbourne travel to Hythe Town this weekend with boss Ryan Maxwell looking for a response after their winning run ended abruptly last weekend, as well as getting a game of football after farcical scenes at Littlehampton in midweek. 

The Brickies travelled to Sussex on Tuesday to face the home side where ironically Hythe had shared eight goals with at the weekend, only for the match official to postpone the contest less that 45 minutes before kick-off leaving Maxwell and his players angry and stunned. 

“Tuesday night was a complete waste of time to say the least!” said the Brickies boss obviously still upset at the late postponement. 

“I do feel for the referee a little bit as it was his first game at our level, and he was faced with a pitch that was no more than a bit “sticky” in patches.”

“It was the sort of pitch that I grew up playing on every single week, but times have changed dramatically on and off the pitch I am afraid.”

“Both myself and the Littlehampton manager were shocked to say the least by his decision – a lot of people put a lot into being a Non-League manager and player; you take a lot of time away from your work, family – the cost of it all and I felt for my players who have made the long trip taking hours out of work and then the money to get there which they will now have to do all over again.” 

“That game should have gone ahead – it’s affected people negatively! It was a real disappointing evening, but we have to regroup and go again!” 

“I hate having to keep making references to life itself, but it is just far too easy to be offended, call the game off – everything is erring on the side of caution!”

“I said the referee “let’s get the game going; let’s see how it pans out” at least that way we have given it a go! There are far too many postponements these days – it used to be part of the game, having to deal with the elements.”

“Now if there’s a small, tiny area that’s dubious, game off! That really is just too easy for my liking – you must deal with certain obstacles in life, never mind football, and if everyone just kept throwing the towel in, we would just keep creating weaker and weaker and weaker individuals I am afraid!” 

“It’s gutting as this wonderful game of football was built in rolling your sleeves up many moons ago and sliding in, making a tackle, was a massive part of the game, and a very enjoyable one!” 

“After losing our winning run at the weekend (the Brickies lost 0-3 to Chichester City), we were chomping at the bit to play and we actually went out as a team whilst the referee was having a look and they were gagging to get going which is good to see as they were looking forward to getting over what happened on Saturday.” 

“It was a blow, but we look now to the weekend after a good training session to Hythe on Saturday. They have a lot of games to play in a short period of time as they have been no strangers to having their games called off.”

“It is going to be a tough game on that surface if we play – that said, I think that it is one that I would have looked forward to playing in myself.”

“We will make sure that the boys are ready. It will tough and I doubt if it will be a pleasant one with all the rain that we have had. If it is on, I am sure it will be a proper “roll them sleeves up” type of game…”