Sittingbourne assistant manager Darren Pont credits the computer game Fifa with helping today’s players become more tactically aware.

Pont, who spent 12 years as an academy coach at Gillingham before joining the Brickies, has seen big changes in non-league since his playing days.

He’s been impressed with the tactical knowledge on display in Isthmian South East - and feels players have learned from playing Fifa.

“I played for Chatham and Faversham a long time ago and players now are more switched on and tactically aware,” said Pont.

“When I played it was a basic 4-4-2, don’t get beat by your man, win your individual battles, but it’s a lot different now.

“It’s surprising how good some players are.

“Even playing Fifa, you learn different formations and different tactics, high-press or drop-off, things like that, which makes kids at a younger age more tactically aware and gives them a better game understanding.

“The coaching has improved massively as well.

“When I was a kid I didn’t really get any coaching but now kids are coached from a young age, by decent coaches, and you get players at this level who have been in and around academy coaching."

Pont was named Sittingbourne assistant after Darren Blackburn took charge in March last year.

His son, Harrison, plays in defence for the Brickies but there’s no special treatment.

“I treat him like any other player and the rest of the players understand that,” said Pont.

“He doesn’t call me Dad, he calls me by my name and, if anything, I’m harder on him.

“I’ve dug him out a couple of times and we get the videos of the games at home and I’ll say to him, ‘Come here and look at this…’

“He comes from an academy background, released by Gillingham, and he’s gone down the non-league route.

“He’s doing OK, he just needs to knuckle down and learn and get game time.

“It’s a learning curve for him and, to be fair, he’s growing up.

“I’ve coached his side, he’s had me all through his life and I did say to him if you’re not happy I’ll take a step back because his career is more important than mine, but he’s quite happy with me being here.”

Sittingbourne lost 2-0 at Isthmian South East high-fliers Haywards Heath on Saturday.

They played the majority of the game against 10 men after Kieran Rowe picked up a second yellow card on 37 minutes.

But Heath added to Jerson dos Santos’ early opener with Sam Remfry clinching the points 15 minutes from time as Sittingbourne struggled to a get a grip on the game.

“We didn’t create much, I don’t think their keeper had a shot to save,” said Pont.

“I think we defended quite well as a group but a couple of individual errors at set-pieces have cost us.

“We didn’t capitalise on the sending-off and you quite often see that in football.

“I don’t know why that is. Psychologically, perhaps, you think it’s going to be easier but the other side raise their game, it gets their backs up because they’ve had a man sent off and they end up working harder all over the pitch.

“It can be harder to play against 10 men if you don’t do the things you’re asked but Haywards Heath are up the top for a reason, they’re a well-organised side, strong at the back and pretty lively up front.”

Sittingbourne host another in-form team when ex-Brickies boss Nick Davis brings VCD to Woodstock this Saturday.

Bourne are in a difficult run of games as they look to establish themselves in the top half of the table or even fight for a play-off place.

“The fixture list has hit us,” said Pont. “We’ve had the top two in Cray Valley and Haywards Heath, VCD are fourth and later this month we’ve got Ashford, who are right up there, so it’s not the easiest few weeks for us.

“We’ve had some injuries in key areas, Toby Ajala and Danny Taylor are our legs in central midfield and we’ve missed them badly.

“Ahmed Abdulla is a quality player but running around chasing players isn’t his game, we need those players in and around him to feed him him the ball.

“We’re hoping to have Danny back in the next couple of weeks and Toby has started running.”

Read more: The latest sports news in Kent