Sittingbourne face a severe test of their play-off credentials when second-placed Phoenix visit Woodstock on Saturday.
The teams have already met this season, Sittingbourne winning a competitive League Cup-tie 2-0 at the start of last month.
And Sittingbourne won when the teams met earlier in the year, 1-0 away to Phoenix on a sunny day in April when David Smith got the only goal of the game.
Phoenix, who now have former Sittingbourne manager Nick Davis on their coaching team, have made a good start to this season and are three points clear of the third-placed side in Bostik South East League, though all the teams below them have played less games and so have matches in hand.
But the North Kent club have only won once in five games this month, including a 1-0 defeat at Ramsgate on Tuesday night in an FA Trophy replay.
Sittingbourne are still in that competition as they won 2-0 at Faversham Town last Saturday which culminated in the home club’s respected manager Ray Turner resigning.
Player-coach Nathan Elder headed the first goal on his first start for the team and 18-year-old Harrison Hatfull clinched the win with a stunning top-corner scorcher in the second half.
Both will have be hoping to keep their places in the starting line-up against Phoenix, with the experienced ex-Football League player Elder showing at Faversham how much he adds strength and an aerial threat to the team.
Tommy Fagg continues his suspension and will still be sitting it out when the next round of the Trophy is played, Sittingbourne having been drawn at home to Wingate and Finchley a week on Saturday.
Sittingbourne have slipped off the pace in the league recently, losing their last two games, to Haywards Heath and at home to Ransgate, without scoring a goal in either match.
That’s why a win would be so important to them this Saturday as they have a squad of players and a management set-up that is good enough to see them challenging for honours this season.
