Defender Joe Ellul says there’s something different about Ramsgate after celebrating 50 appearances for the club.
Ellul brought up his half-century on Saturday as the Rams beat East Grinstead 2-1 to move nine points clear in Isthmian South East.
He’s reached the milestone over two spells, having left for Welling midway through last season.
The centre-half was only too pleased to return in the summer following talks with manager Ben Smith.
“It’s good to get 50 appearances under my belt,” said Ellul, 36.
“I enjoy it there and it’s going well, so it makes it a lot easier.
“I think there was a lot of indecisiveness from me and Ben last year.
“It could have been a case of just having a conversation and we didn’t, we sort of just said OK, we’ll go our separate ways.
“But no bridges were burned and that’s the way I like to keep it.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to burn bridges with anyone, so it was good to come back.
“I’d been thinking to myself how many games have I played?
“I checked the other day, before we played Broadbridge Heath, and I was on 48, so I knew if I played that and Saturday, I’d hit 50.
“I’ve got a good record as well. I’ve won 41, lost six and drawn three in all competitions, and I think I’ve only lost two league games.”
Ellul won National League South with Maidstone three years ago, starred for Maidenhead in the National League and has also played top-flight football in New Zealand.
It’s been a long and varied career and he’s enjoying his time at Ramsgate as they bid to land the club’s first title since 2006.
“There’s something different about Ramsgate in that the club should be playing a lot higher, with the infrastructure and the players they’ve got,” said Ellul.
“It’s a nice feeling and the fans adore us.
“I know it’s normal at clubs that fans love you but the amount of kids that come with the parents and stay after the game, you have people in the bar for two or three hours.
“No disrespect but we’re playing at Step 4 and kids want autographs off us. That’s not me knocking the level, it’s just at Step 4 you don’t usually get that.
“The only team that’s really beating Ramsgate for fans in Kent is Maidstone and they’re two leagues higher.
“But if Ramsgate were to get in the National League South, I think they’d get more fans than Maidstone.”
Ramsgate came from a goal to beat East Grinstead in front of more than 1,200 fans.
Josh Ajayi levelled and Jay Leader scored the winner as Smith’s side made it 11 successive victories.
They’ve dropped only seven points all season in the race for Isthmian Premier football.
“Our consistency is scary,” said Ellul. “But, then again, you only have to look at the players we’ve got.
“It’s been tough the last few weeks because every team we’ve played has kicked us and punched us and tried to boot us off the park.
“But we’re quite lucky we’ve got a few boys on the team who withstand that and don’t let it affect us.
“Obviously, we want to play football a certain way.
“We want to control a game playing football and, luckily for us, we’ve got 10 out of 11, minus myself who can play football very well.
“We aren’t done yet. We’ve still got 11 games to go.
“If we get down to two or three games to go and we’re nine points clear, then I’ll probably start to get a bit excited, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
“Ben keeps saying one game at a time and that’s literally it.
“We’re all as one, we know what we expect of each other and what makes each other tick.
“With the boys we’ve got in the changing room, no one can steer them away from what they’re doing.
“There’s not a chance in hell we’re going to let anyone come away from the game plan and how we want to do things.
“We’ve got a goal in mind and, I’m not just saying this to please the fans, we owe them promotion.
“They’ve been waiting three or four years now and the boys will go to any lengths to get it done.”
Ramsgate visit third-placed Burgess Hill this Saturday (3pm) and travel to Merstham next Tuesday (7.45pm).
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