Ramsgate’s Ben Smith is more than happy with his side’s attacking style of play.

The Rams have maximum points from their first three Isthmian South East fixtures of the season, behind early Isthmian South East frontrunners Sheppey on goal difference, after their 4-2 victory at Deal on Bank Holiday Monday.

It was a second successive 4-2 win for Smith’s side, who saw off Sittingbourne through goals from Benedict Bioletti, Tom Carlse, Joe Taylor and TJ Jadama last weekend. They already have 14 goals from four competitive matches this term.

“We like a game to be open,” explained interim manager Smith. “We will always try to put our imprint into a game and I felt that, in spells, we did that quite well on Monday.

“Sometimes, you do leave yourself exposed but I’m certainly of the mindset that we will go and score more than the opposition.”

Hat-trick hero Taylor led the way for Ramsgate in front of Deal’s club-record attendance of 1,895.

The Hoops struck first through Ben Chapman and they won a penalty, which Jack Paxman missed against his old club, before Taylor converted the first of two spot-kicks in first-half stoppage time.

Report: Deal 2-4 Ramsgate

Provider turned scorer for the Rams as midfielder Jadama netted, only for Tom Chapman to level the scores in the second half.

But Rams captain Taylor had the last laugh in a derby which lived up to its billing. He put his team back in front before he scored another spot-kick late on.

Smith reflected: “That was probably how I saw the game going.

“We knew that they would come out in a sort of ‘blood and thunder’ kind of way because there’s a lot of ex-Ramsgate players in their team. I know Kingy (Deal boss Steve King) really well, he knows me really well, so we knew how each other was going to play.

“Obviously, momentum is a huge thing in football and they have an awful lot of momentum as a team - and as a club. I think it’s a really well-run club here. I’ve said that for a long time.

“From when I ground-shared with Canterbury City here, I knew they were good people and it would only be so long before they got themselves up.

“I think they will do well this year.”

Smith revealed Rams defender Joe Ellul had been at fault for Deal’s opening goal. He attempted to shepherd out Hoops captain Macauley Murray’s free-kick, only for Ben Chapman to sneak in at the back post.

“It was a great ball in,” he said. “Joe Ellul has left it, trying to see it out, and they have kept it alive at the back post.

“Whether that’s the communication to Joe or just a poor decision by Joe, it’s definitely something that we will look at.

“But you don’t want to take anything away from the goalscorer.”

Seconds later, the Rams conceded a penalty for a foul by defender Jay Leader, only for ex-Ramsgate defender Jack Paxman to miss the target from 12 yards.

Smith said: “You often see that, don’t you?

“After you concede a goal, you play straight into the same area where the free-kick had come from for the first goal. We weren’t set again.

“That’s where sometimes from the kick-off you just have to play percentages, kick it down into the corner and play from the throw-in in their half. But that’s just not how we play. Sometimes, that’ll happen.

“I think he’s bought the penalty. If you look at Jay Leader, both his two feet are clearly still and his arms are in the air before there is any contact. But it’s smart play from their attacker.

“You just cannot give the ball away in the area of the pitch, which we gave it away. That’s criminal.”

Smith was also unhappy with the manner in which Deal were able to counter-attack from defending a corner for their second goal.

He explained: “We had made substitutions and it was just a lack of communication on who was doing which role, which meant we had too many players forward.

“You just have to wipe someone out in that situation - and we didn’t. The play just kept going and going. You just knew it was going to end up in a tap-in goal and that’s what happened.

“It was shocking from a team at this level to concede a goal like that. Accountability for that is on both us on the sidelines and the players on the pitch. It was just a pure error in terms of organisation.

“At the minute, we, generally, are organised but that was just a bad decision.”

Right-back Aaron Barnes and former Football League midfielder Bioletti came off against Deal ahead of this Saturday’s FA Cup first qualifying round home game to Isthmian Premier Folkestone.

“Both are ankle injuries,” Smith stated. “They took a few knocks on Saturday and I felt like that was the area where we needed to freshen it up. That’s what we did in the second half.

“Josh Ajayi and Roarie Deacon, when they came on, really put some class and authority into how we play.”