Ryan Maxwell proved as good as his word by bringing defender Joe Ellul to Sittingbourne.

Ellul joined the Brickies a day after leaving National League Maidstone last week.

The 34-year-old was voted supporters’ player-of-the-year as the Stones won National South last season.

And he wasted no time endearing himself to the Brickies faithful, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 Isthmian South East draw at home to Sevenoaks on Saturday.

Maxwell, the ex-Braintree boss, told Ellul he would sign him once back in management.

“Joe’s a great player and a great guy,” said Maxwell.

“I’ve known him for quite a while and we’ve always had this agreement that I would sign him at my next club. That was between us a little while ago.

“He wasn’t happy at Maidstone for various reasons.

“I knew of that and before I took the job at Sittingbourne I said to him be patient, don’t worry, because wherever I take over, I’ll be signing you and here we are.”

Ellul scored a classy header to put Bourne in front and his influence will only grow.

“He had an all-round decent game,” said Maxwell. “Not outstanding in the way I expected him to be but he knows that and he’ll get up to speed.

“His header was worth the admission fee alone.

“It was a far-post header and he’s delicately lobbed the keeper with it. It was a fantastic, controlled header.

“He’s clearly an influence - and a positive one.

“He knows my standards pretty well and he can reinforce them, which he’s doing already.

“I’ve just said to him, do your normal job and, by being you, you’ll rub off on other people.”

Maxwell felt Sittingbourne, who remain third-bottom, were the better team against Sevenoaks.

Simo Mbonkwi had a big chance to score on his debut but on-loan Tonbridge defender Joe Tyrie was sent off midway through the second half and Kieran Cadogan scored an 86th-minute equaliser.

“It was a game where I think we were certainly the better side,” said Maxwell.

“I expect that now, if I’m honest, in most games, and had we scored the second, it could have been three.

“Joe scored a great goal and we had chances to put it to bed. Unfortunately, we’ve lost two points at the end and I have to make sure we don’t do that again.

“The sending-off was warranted. It’s two yellows. For the first one, he’s been caught in a bit of a race and as he’s gone to clear the ball he catches the guy instead.

“The second one, he’s gone to attack a bouncing ball and the striker’s got there first.

“I said to him last week never too high, never too low, and unfortunately he’s had the extremities of scoring a goal on his debut to getting sent off.”

Maxwell enjoyed the chance to meet supporters after the game in a rearranged fans’ forum.

He’s big on interaction and his words went down well.

“I was more than happy to answer anything,” said Maxwell.

“I think the fans appreciated my honest, open approach. I gave them some clarity on short, medium and long-term goals and, as I always say, a club’s nothing without fans.”

Sittingbourne visit Ashford on Saturday before a trip to Hythe on Tuesday (7.45pm).