Tommy Osborne valued Sheppey’s Swale derby win against Sittingbourne even more given the quality of the opposition.

Assistant boss Osborne saw the Ites end Bourne’s 100 per cent start to the season at Holm Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

They won 2-1 courtesy of a goal in either half from Rolando Onu before a late reply from Harvey Smith.

Sittingbourne broke the 100-point barrier last season before losing the Isthmian South East play-off final on penalties and are aiming to go one better and win the league.

Sheppey were looking for a response after losing on penalties to Hassocks in the FA Trophy preliminary round on Saturday.

And the Ites delivered, to the delight of home fans in a big derby crowd of 957, as Eitel Goueth and James Bessey-Saldanha celebrated 50 appearances for the club.

“It’s a really good win because Sittingbourne have been very unlucky not to go up the last couple of seasons,” said Osborne.

“They’re going to be there or thereabouts again, there’s no doubt about that. They’ll be aiming to win the league.

“So to put on a good performance and get the win was really good, especially after the disappointment of going out of the Trophy on Saturday. It was a good response from the boys.

“We had to dig in. It was always going to be the case.

“The likelihood of us dominating the game for 90 minutes against Sittingbourne, it’s probably not going to happen.

“So there’s going to be spells where you’ve got to defend and stand up and be counted.

“We had to do that and we did it well.

“But I still thought we offered something going forward, we scored a couple of decent goals and had other opportunities where we created a chance and made things happen.

“It wasn’t just a case of us hanging on in there, it was just a good all-round performance.”

Onu has eight goals already this season and is proving to be a shrewd signing.

He also scored in the Trophy, giving Sheppey an early lead from the penalty spot, only for Hassocks to level in the second half and triumph 3-0 in the shoot-out.

“Rolando’s done very well,” said Osborne.

“He’s in a rich vein of form and he took his goals well because he’s up against centre-halves who are good players.

“I thought he did very well against both of them.

“Why not shoot for the stars and try and get a really good tally this season?

“He’s a strong boy, too, so he’s got more to his game than just his goals.”

While Onu got the goals, centre-half Lex Allan was named man-of-the-match against his old club.

Allan has had three spells with Sittingbourne, most recently at the end of last season after signing from Hythe.

But he’s back with Sheppey and showing what he can do.

“Lex was very good,” said Osborne.

“When we had to defend our box he took responsibility and led us in that respect.

“I was pleased for Lex because he’s a really good lad, his attitude’s spot on.

“It was good for him to put in a good performance and deservedly get the man-of-the-match.

“The way he plays is 100 per cent, he’s a wholehearted player, so you can see why he is popular wherever he goes.”

Sheppey are in FA Cup first qualifying round action at Westfield this Saturday (3pm).

The Ites beat Eastbourne United 9-0 in the previous round, with Onu scoring a hat-trick.

“We’re playing a team not in our league, so it’s a little bit of an unknown for both sides,” said Osborne.

“But so far we’ve done OK in the FA Cup so far and scored a few goals and hopefully that will give us confidence.

“The last round was one of those games you get every now and again.

“It’s not reality, we know that’s not the norm.

“It’s going to be tougher on Saturday but we can certainly take confidence from those first two cup games.

“I dare say Kev (Watson, manager) will do a bit of digging but sometimes you have to just turn up to a game, concentrate on yourselves and not worry too much about the opposition.”

Sheppey host Margate in the League Cup first round on Tuesday (7.45pm).