Chris Lynch says it takes a brave manager to persist with his youth policy at Sittingbourne.

The Brickies boss is a big believer in giving young players time to find their feet.

His patience is starting to pay off with Bourne recording back-to-back wins and clean sheets in the FA Trophy and Isthmian South East.

He's highlighted the improvement of left-back Jason Fregene in making the case for youngsters.

Lynch said: "Jason's one who stepped up from Hollands & Blair and it was a bit of a shock to him at first because you don't get a second on the ball.

"A couple of goals in pre-season were down to him but he's listened, he's knuckled down, he's worked hard and he's got a great attitude.

"All these players are here for a reason.

"They're the type of players I can work with and they all want to kick on.

"You're going to suffer a bit of inconsistency at times but if you're a brave manager, you're prepared to stick with them and put your neck on the line.

"It does take time - I've been here since January and we're only gelling now.

"It would be easy for a lot of managers to say, 'we'll have to get rid of you and go for experience because we're 15th in the league'.

"But the brave ones go, 'OK, it's a decision I've made to go with young players, I'm going to stick by them, even if it means getting sacked'.

"Don't get me wrong, no manager wants to be in the bottom half of the league but I feel we're good enough to be in the top 10 - easily - and with little tweaks here and there we're getting it right."

Sittingbourne host Tooting & Mitcham in the FA Trophy first qualifying round this Saturday.

Their opponents are unbeaten at the top of Isthmian South Central - the equivalent level to Bourne.

But they hold no fear for Lynch, even though he's missing keeper Tom Benham and striker Johan Caney-Bryan, who are set to miss six weeks with ankle ligament damage.

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The Brickies boss said: "Tooting will be a good test for us.

"They play a different way and they're top of their league but we look like keeping clean sheets and we've been scoring as well.

"We can match any team physically, the question is can we match their quality? I'm saying we're can.

"We're playing some very attractive football.

"It takes a lot of months to get to that level but fans are enjoying the style we're playing."

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