Sittingbourne go in search of a place in the fourth Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup this weekend for the first time this century and for the first time since 1998. 

Standing between the Brickies and the final qualifying round are Plymouth Parkway who play in the Southern League Premier South, the equivalent of the Isthmian Premier and boss Ryan Maxwell cannot wait for 3.00 Saturday afternoon. 

Speaking to KSN, the Brickies boss said, “We have all really looked forward to the weekend. It is all about the magic of the cup and let us hope that at the end of Saturday afternoon there is so much magic more to come!” 

Parkway come to Kent off the back of 9-3 and 3-1 defeats in the League, but Maxwell warned against complacency, saying: “Plymouth are going to be a tough side, do not let their results fool you. I have had various reports on them, and I know that we are in for a tough afternoon and a very tough game!  

“They come from a higher level than we play at, so we must respect that. Yes, we are at the Staxson and in a bit of form, but we are certainly going to have to be at our best on Saturday!” 

Reflecting on last weekend’s thumping won over Kingstonian, Maxwell admitted, “I thought we were excellent, and I thought the performance had a bit of everything and if we had kept a clean sheet, it would have been nearly perfect!  

“I think it is one of the best performances that we have had, some of our attacking play was great; defensively we were sound and in general, I thought everyone had a good eight out of ten. An exceptionally good day, good performance, good goals, and all that was missing was as I said the clean sheet.” 

“The Trophy draw has been kind to us again with a home draw next week; that said Bognor are again in the League above; they have always had a DNA in their club and have been successful with it. We will really have to analyse them closer. We must take being at home as a real positive and again we will have to be at our best but that is in the future as we are one hundred percent focused on this weekend and Plymouth Parkway.” 

“I believe that if you work hard, you do get a bit of luck eventually, and we are certainly working hard at the moment and I have told that to the players – we are working extremely hard, the harder you work, you might get a wee bit of luck too.”