Tommy Warrilow insists Ashford must learn lessons from their play-off final defeat.

The Nuts & Bolts took Horsham to extra time on Friday night before losing 2-1 in the Bostik South East showpiece.

But they had the home side worried for long spells in the second half once Sam Corne had fired them level from the penalty spot.

John Coker, Jay May and Danny Parish all had good sights of goal while Jake McIntyre missed a great chance just before Horsham scored their winner.

Warrilow said: "I'm gutted. Things probably caught up with us a little bit.

"We've had a tough few weeks, especially with the extra time on Monday so quick after the Saturday.

"We started so badly in the first half. We all knew it wasn't good enough and we came out second half and we were the better team.

"Next year we should really take notice of that and make sure that when we're on top, we make it count.

"Even going into the second half (of extra time), we looked strong. We freshened it up because Jay was blowing and Jerald (Aboagye) was blowing so we put (Josh) Wisson into the back and kept the same shape but they looked quite dangerous from corners.

"It's the only way they looked like they were going to score and I'm disappointed with the winning goal because it was a set-piece and we weren't marking."

• Match report: Horsham 2-1 Ashford

Ashford only came to life once Horsham had taken the lead, five minutes before half-time.

"Perhaps that's what it's been lately," Warrilow said. "I try to emphasise I'm about us all the time - if we go one down, it doesn't really matter - but we didn't play well in the first half.

"Getting the penalty bang on half-time gave us a lift and in the second half we flew out of the blocks.

"We were dominant and we were driving at them - but it wasn't enough."

However, defeat in the play-off final shouldn't detract from the job Warrilow and his staff have done at Homelands over the last six months.

He said: "We had to sort a lot of things out when we came in in November. We found our shape, we brought players in, moved players out and then we got some momentum going.

"You look back and reflect that we've made the play-offs, bearing in mind Cray (winning the league) was a given with the points they had in front.

"You could ask for more - winning the final - but to get to the final, it's not nice to lose it but at the same time it's not a bad job."