Ramsgate coach Darren Beale could see the ambition at Southwood - more than a decade ago.

Beale spent almost two years with the Rams as assistant manager under Timmy Dixon between 2012 and 2014.

He rejoined the club this season as part of Ben Smith’s management team, helping the Isthmian South East leaders win 17 of their opening 19 games.

The former Gillingham academy coach, who left his role as Hythe Town assistant boss in August, had previously worked with Smith at Canterbury and Herne Bay.

The chance to return to Ramsgate, and work with a man he knows well, made it a win-win situation.

“It was two-fold coming back,” said Beale, who saw Rams beat Lancing 4-1 on Saturday.

“When I was there before, with Timmy Dixon, we had a good time up until circumstances changed.

“It was an enjoyable time and I felt I had unfinished business. It was a club you could tell had ambitions, even back then, and to come back and work with Ben was good.

“I had a good time with him at Herne Bay.

“It was an offer that was too good to refuse.

“Ramsgate’s always been an ambitious club.

“It always had good members and good supporters but it’s more professional now and the fanbase has increased massively.

“It’s very professional, not just on the pitch but off the pitch, and Ben’s recruited really well.

“It’s a bigger management team than it was when I was previously there but even with as many people as we’ve got involved, everybody’s focused and pulling in the right direction and that reflects on the pitch.”

Beale and Sean Hill work hard on analysis behind the scenes to give Smith the tools to do his job.

The Rams boss has the final say, of course, but has always been one to listen to others’ opinions.

“Ben knows what my strengths are and he’s the type of manager that will use them to good effect,” said Beale.

“It’s always been enjoyable working with him.

“It doesn’t matter what manager I’ve worked with, I’m always there to offer my opinions.

“It doesn’t mean my opinion’s always right but it’s nice working with Ben.

“He does listen, he doesn’t always go with that, sometimes he decides to go in a different direction but the beauty of Ramsgate is there’s such a professional set-up.

“Myself and Sean Hill, we do quite a lot of work on analysis in the week, on opposition, on our shape, and we feed that into Ben.

“He takes that on board and then decides towards game day which way he wants to go, whether he feels that’s the right way to do it or he slightly tweaks it.

“It seems to be working, apart from the one defeat.”

Ramsgate remain two points clear of Sittingbourne at the top after beating Lancing at Southwood.

Joe Taylor’s double and a Roarie Deacon goal opened up an early 3-0 lead before the visitors had Knory Scott sent off.

Billy Munday added the Rams’ fourth but further chances went begging and they conceded a late consolation.

“It was a shame they got someone sent off because I think with 11 players we were exposing them and opening them up,” said Beale.

“When they went down to 10 players, it was shut up shop, damage limitation and getting everybody behind the ball, although they did score at the end, which was disappointing.

“It was a shame we couldn’t get a few more goals in the second half to increase our goal difference.

“It’s something we’ve said we’ve got to do better.

“When we’re in the ascendancy and playing as well as we are, and teams go down to 10, it’s can we kill them off?

“Although the game was done it would be nice to score a few more. We had chances we should have taken.”

Ramsgate visit Merstham this Saturday (3pm) in their final game before Christmas and the big Boxing Day derby at Margate.