Boss Ray Turner was proud of his Faversham Town players despite their defeat in the Ryman League Division 1 South play-off final and said he wants to keep the squad together and mount a promotion challenge next season.

Town were beaten 3-0 by Maidstone in front of a sell-out crowd of 2,226 at United’s Gallagher Stadium on Saturday and Turner said afterwards that he felt the occasion got to his players.

However the Lilywhites boss (pictured) said: “We’ve got to use this as an inspiration and try and come back stronger next year.

“No one expected us to get this far so the fact we’ve done it is a testament to the players.

“I’m hoping we can start the season well next year and hopefully this group of players will want to stay together.

“I don’t think we’re able to add too much more.

“We’ve got a small squad and that’s all we can run at Faversham at the moment.”

The Town boss added: “The achievement of this club has been fantastic this year.

“On reflection, we’ll probably be quite proud of what we’ve done.”