Brickies ready to face familiar faces in clash with Herne Bay

By Adam Ellis

Sittingbourne manager Nick Davis has played down the rivalry between the Brickies and rivals Herne Bay ahead of their Bostik South League clash tonight.

The Brickies boss will welcome former players Jono Richardson, Josh Wisson and Jake Embery back to The Woodstock after their departures to Bay over the summer.

But Davis maintains he’s more focussed on building on Sittingbourne’s 2-1 victory over Chipstead at the weekend than being distracted by a derby match.

“It’s going to have a bit of extra needle but it’s football at the end of the day and people move on.

“I don’t want to make it bigger than what it is.

“A lot of my players don’t really care too much about it because they’re new here. It’s another game of football. I don’t want to talk it up much.

“It doesn’t matter whether we play them early or later on in the season – I don’t really care. It wasn’t a game I looked out for,” Davis commented.

The trio of ex-Sittingbourne players left Broadoak Road to join the club’s former Under-21 bosses John Embery and Jermaine Darlington, who came calling when they accepted job offers to take charge of the Herne Bay first team.

Herne Bay were unbeaten against their Kent rivals last season, drawing 2-2 at The Woodstock after beating them 3-0 on home soil earlier in the campaign.