Darren Blackburn is happy to see Sittingbourne take the direct route if it keeps their Isthmian South East play-off hopes alive.

The Brickies boss went with an old-school 4-4-2 formation at Whitstable on Saturday, pairing big strikers Kane Rowland and Johan Caney-Bryan up front.

It paid dividends with Rowland opening the scoring and Toby Bancroft also on target in a 2-0 victory that moved Bourne four points off the top five in eighth place.

“We were more direct on Saturday with the two up top, and it worked,” said Blackburn.

“We’ve only played 4-4-2 a couple of times before - it worked well against Faversham when we beat them 3-1 but with different personnel at Hythe it didn’t work at all.

“If you go 4-4-2 those four lads in midfield have really got to put a shift in, especially the two in the middle, and the strikers have got to be prepared to drop in and help out when they can.

“If you’ve got the personnel you can apply it and I think it’s something that can work for us.

“It’s great playing through the thirds but if you lose possession and get turned over in your own half, you can be in trouble.

"Sometimes, if you go more direct, you can get up the pitch and play from there.

“When you put teams under pressure in this league, and ask questions, they haven’t always got the answers.

“It’s definitely something we’ve got to look at, we can’t be a one-trick pony because there’s such varied opposition.

“If you’ve got Johan and Kane up top, who are both good in the air and both good, hard runners, without being rapid, they will always give centre-halves a tough day at the office."

Sittingbourne, beaten 1-0 at home by Burgess Hill on Tuesday last week, face a big few weeks in their play-off bid.

They host Chichester at Woodstock this Saturday, followed by the visit of leaders Hastings and then a trip to a Cray Valley side who beat the Brickies 6-0 in October.

“Whitstable was a must-win game because people will be looking at the next three not expecting us to pick up many points,” said Blackburn.

“But we’ll continue to try and prove people wrong, as we have done all season.

“Even after these next three games there’s still 10 games left, that’s 30 points to play for.

“We need to put a few wins together to stay in contention but it’s a difficult league.

“There’s good coaches and good managers who get their teams well-organised - there aren’t any weak sides.”

Right-back Nev Rivelino has returned to Sittingbourne from Basildon as cover for the injured Samuel Okoye-Ahaneku.

He impressed against Whitstable along with recent signing Ibrahim Bamba, who made his first start in midfield.

The Brickies have also taken teenagers, attacking midfielder Malachi Morris and defender Jamal Abubakari, on loan from National South club Dulwich Hamlet.

But they’ve missed out on another midfield target, Alex Brown, who has decided to stay with Hythe.

Meanwhile, three seven-day approaches have come in following the departures of Ahmed Abdulla and Marvin Hamilton.

“I don’t know if people think the budget has been cut with Abs and Marv going, and that’s why these seven-dayers are coming in, but that’s not the case,” said Blackburn.

“I’m hopeful one of the three will stay. The other two might go - one for more game time and the other for travel reasons.”