Sittingbourne boss Darren Blackburn is picking up the bill for player bookings.

Each yellow card carries a Kent FA fine of £12 but Blackburn has offered to cover the cost as a way of thanking his squad for their loyalty.

Brickies players recently accepted a pay cut and Blackburn wants to reward them for staying put.

“It’s a little goodwill gesture to help the lads out,” said Blackburn.

“As long as they’re reasonable bookings, I’ll pay for them.

“Some of them said ‘brilliant, the gloves are off, I can do what I like’ - but I’ve told them don’t take the p***!

“The lads have taken a little pay adjustment and I appreciate their loyalty sticking by me and the club.

“Wherever you work, you’ve got to create an environment where people want to stay.

“You’ve got to make people feel wanted and manage individuals and keep things as nice as you can.

“If you do that, they’re more likely to stick with you and not go somewhere else for another £20 or £30.”

Danny Taylor scored a spectacular late goal from his own half as Sittingbourne won 1-0 at Ramsgate on Saturday.

It was a special strike from the midfielder as Brickies extended their unbeaten run to five games.

“He’s seen the keeper off his line and gone for it,” said Blackburn.

“He’s shown great awareness and vision but it’s another thing to have the quality to execute it.

“Fair play to him, he’s a great lad and he deserved the goal.

“Some people don’t see a goal like that their whole lives but we’ve seen two in one season.

“Abs Abdulla scored from the halfway line against Whitehawk but this was even further out.”

Blackburn felt Sittingbourne deserved the points after carrying out their gameplan to perfection.

He added: “We had more chances than them in the first half and, second half, we’ve hit them on the counter several times.

"I’d say their two centre-halves had more possession than anyone else on the pitch and that’s what you want when you play away.

"You want them to have the most touches because that means you’re defending well and frustrating them. That was our whole gameplan.

“They like to play out from the back but at this level it’s not always easy to win games like that.

“Against expansive teams who leave gaps it’s all right but we didn’t leave any gaps.”

Sittingbourne are seventh in Isthmian South East, eight points off the play-offs with five games to play.

They host relegation-threatened East Grinstead at Woodstock this Saturday looking to continue their strong finish to the campaign.

Blackburn said: “I can’t be disappointed with the season we’ve had.

“I think we’ll probably miss out on the play-offs because the teams above us have got such strong squads.

“We’ve been making financial adjustments in last two or three weeks, we’ve got 14 players, and then we’re going to Ramsgate who are signing players all over the place.

“It’s like the pauper looking through the shop window at things you can’t afford, wondering ‘what if?’ but I’ve got no complaints. I think we’ve had a great season.

“I gave a challenge to the boys five games ago that if we didn’t do anything else, could we go the last 10 unbeaten?

"We’re halfway there and the other challenge I set was to try and get to 60 points (they currently have 51).

“We had 30 at Christmas, when we had some big players in our side, and it would be testament to our young lads if we could match that in the second half of the season.

“We’d love to stay unbeaten and make some more memories for the fans.

"East Grinstead will be an interesting game because for the last five weeks we’ve been underdogs.

"We’ll be favourites to win this one so we'll see how the boys adjust to that."