Tony Rickson previews Ramsgate v Sittingbourne

The pitches are sodden and the weather forecast’s not good, so Sittingbourne fans will need to check social media before heading off to Ramsgate for Easter Monday’s Kent derby.

Sittingbourne still have seven league games to squeeze in before the season ends in less than four weeks’ time, so will be keen to get this one played if it all possible.

More than keen, really, as they would love to avenge last month’s home defeat by Ramsgate – a game they lost 3-2 after leading 2-0 well into the second half.

That was only Aslan Odev’s third game as interim manager and Sittingbourne have got much better at hanging on to leads since then – beating both South Park and Shoreham by the odd goal in recent home games.

That home defeat by Ramsgate wasn’t the first time in this topsy-turvy Sittingbourne season that they’ve lost 3-2 after being two-up with most of the game played.

To me, the defeat at Cray Wanderers on a chilly December night was the turning point of the season – to be exact it was the moment when John Coker was controversially sent off that it all started to go wrong.

It gave Cray the impetus to score three late goals against 10-men Sittingbourne, who then went on a difficult losing run that culminated in manager Nick Davis resigning.

The poor run of results carried on a little bit but two wins in the last three games has put that right, with Sittingbourne playing well in the game they did lose, against promotion-chasing Greenwich Borough last Tuesday night.

Ramsgate have had a mixed season but have done well lately, winning four out of their last six games, though they did lose 2-1 away to South Park on Saturday.

Former Sittingbourne defender George Crimmen is still one of the mainstays of their team and could come face to face with his brother Reiss on Monday.

Reiss returned to Sittingbourne last week and had an excellent game against Greenwich, defending well and adding a new element to the attack with some amazing long throw-ins.

Ramsgate go into the match five points below Sittingbourne in the Bostik League South table and up against a Brickies team who have a very good record on this ground in recent years.