Ryan Maxwell won’t spend time worrying about Sittingbourne’s Isthmian South East promotion rivals.

The Brickies moved back up to fourth place after beating fellow contenders Ashford 1-0 at Woodstock on Saturday.

Ramsgate started the season as title favourites and nothing has changed, with the Thanet club embracing expectations and going top after a 1-0 win at Sheppey last night.

But Maxwell’s men are unbeaten in the league since the opening day and the Northern Irishman knows money isn’t everything.

He said: “At Braintree our budget was under three grand a week and Ebbsfleet’s was 20-odd grand but we still beat them 1-0.

“You can still beat these teams - it’s what they do when they don’t play you that you have no control over.

“You have to beat them in the head-to-head and, of course, we’re going to try and take them off their perch.

“Everybody knows the budget Ramsgate have and the players they can sign.

“Good luck to them - I haven’t got a problem with that at all.

“It makes them by far and away the favourites to win the league but they’re not the only good team.

“Cray Valley will be right up there and we have to make sure we are but I don’t worry too much about other teams.

“If you focus too much on others you’re not putting enough energy into your own job.

“If I’m happy with us, I know we’ll give anybody a game.”

Maxwell was certainly happy with his side’s performance against Ashford.

They’d gone three weeks without a league game but you’d never have known.

The hosts were good value for the win, earning the points with Jardel Adeyinka’s 74th-minute goal.

“It was the complete performance,” said Maxwell, whose side host pace-setters Three Bridges this Saturday (3pm).

“We were dominant, without being elaborate with the scoreline.

“We should have won by more but the actual performance, I was extremely pleased with everything I saw - defensively, on the ball, our decision-making and our movement in forward areas.

“I was concerned we hadn’t played a competitive game for a few weeks but we’ve trained extremely hard and I have to give the players a lot of credit.

“They’ve been put through their paces and we’ve created an intense environment.

“If training hadn’t been like that we may have been caught short on Saturday but we looked sharp and fit.

“I knew the goal would come, although we had to make changes to get it.

“We should have scored more but sometimes you have to grind it out, and we did.

“Credit to the boys. They didn’t get bored, they kept believing in what they were doing and got their rewards.

“We knew it would be a tough game. We respect Ashford and we know how they like to play but we contained them.

“Fair play to their manager (Kevin Watson). He quite openly said we were dominant, I think were his words, which I respected, because it was the truth.

“If we’re being honest, we have to win those games if we’re trying to do something remarkable and fight for top spot.

“We’ve beaten Ashford, beaten Herne Bay and drawn at Sevenoaks and they’re the guidelines we need to be on.

“It’s one game at a time but we knew Saturday was a statement of intent.”

Sittingbourne need to be on their game against Three Bridges, which is followed by a rearranged match at Chichester on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Bridges have scored 30 times in 11 games but trail new leaders Ramsgate on goal difference.

Maxwell said: “Three Bridges have had a fantastic start.

“Let’s be honest, everyone’s surprised by how well they’ve done, and fair play to them.

“My work has already started on them and the players will need to be switched on to implement what we’re trying to do.

“They’re very much a goalscoring team and we will have to be at our best defensively.

“That’ll be part of our mindset but we’re not too bad ourselves - we’ll give them plenty to worry about as well.”

Sittingbourne’s Kent Senior Cup tie at Hythe last night was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.