Ben Smith says Ramsgate have been offered all sorts of players since their FA Cup exploits - but they can afford to choose carefully.

Rams continued their scintillating Isthmian South East form with a 3-1 home win over Herne Bay on Boxing Day.

Alfie Paxman opened the scoring and Joe Taylor struck twice, to leave Rams six points clear at the top.

They’re in a great position to kick on and will be selective should they choose to add to the squad.

“We get offered players left, right and centre at the minute,” said Rams boss Smith.

“It’s difficult because there’s players you’d normally bring in because they’re good players but, to be honest, they’ve got to be quite a bit better than we’ve got now.

“There’s no point me bringing in another winger if the winger’s not better than what I’ve got, for example.

“Unless someone’s going to come in and really add something we haven’t got already, there’s no point. It’s a nice position to be in.

“I’m sure we’re not the only club who get agents offering us players.

“We also get other clubs offering us players who are on contract that they no longer want but we’re not just going to be throwing money at someone else’s problem for them. It’s not going to happen.

“If you’re at a club a league or two above, who can afford your players?

“Well, they think Ramsgate can but we’re not just going to give money to anyone. It has to be the right player.

“We’ve not had loads of players this year and we’re not going to start just because we’ve done well in the FA Cup.”

On the flipside, there’s been interest in Ramsgate’s FA Cup stars on the back of their run to the second round.

But Smith says they are going nowhere.

He said: “We’ve had National South clubs come in for players but we’ve got pretty much everyone on contract so, go away. We bat it away.

“Of course, there’s going to be interest but we move forward as normal.

“We’re not desperate to take anyone’s money.

“While we wouldn’t stand in anyone’s way if it was an unbelievable opportunity, nothing’s come in that would be life-changing for a player so we won’t be allowing anyone to leave at the moment.

“Why would anyone want to leave?

“The club are using the FA Cup run as a springboard.

“We’ve got more sponsors than ever, more season ticket holders than ever - we’re up to 400 now.

“The byproduct of doing well in the cup is the increased interest in the club.

“I know James (Lawson, chairman) has got aspirations and plans to really move the infrastructure of the club forward.

“I think the FA Cup run has accelerated a lot of things. We’ve got a few options.”

Ramsgate host Sevenoaks on Saturday and visit promotion rivals Sittingbourne on New Year’s Day (3pm).