Jay Saunders wants to end the days of players treating Tonbridge as a stepping stone.

Angels have made great strides in all areas over the past couple of years and want to keep growing.

On the pitch they’re fighting for a National League South play-off place and off it they’re a thriving community asset.

Boss Saunders wants to reach a stage where their progress as a club is reflected in their ability to hold on to their best players.

“In the summer we lost players, the likes of Devonte Aransibia going to Maidstone,” said Saunders.

“We need to get in a position where these players don’t want to leave.

“They don’t see Tonbridge as a stepping stone, they see it as a club where they can progress, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“We’ve come a long way but we’ve got to keep building.

“I’ve said all along I want to push for the play-offs but at the same time we need to establish ourselves as a top-10 club.

“The fans have been great and the players and management fully appreciate their support.

“Hopefully we can keep building and keep these supporters wanting to come back.”

Tonbridge have been rewarded for doing things the right way with the loan signing of Paris Lock from AFC Wimbledon.

They already had one Dons loanee in defender Ethan Sutcliffe and their handling of him was pivotal in signing Lock, who made his debut in the 2-0 defeat at Maidstone on New Year’s Day.

“Paris is someone we liked,” said Saunders.

“We spoke about getting him before he went on loan to Dover this season and he went there and did really well.

“We tried to get him after that but Wimbledon wanted him back around the first team.

“But they gave us a call the other day and said if we were still interested, they’d like to get him back out on loan.

“We’ve got Ethan Sutcliffe, who’s been really good for us, and they were pleased with how we’ve dealt with him.

“It’s good to get him on board. It was a tough game to throw him straight into and, to be honest, if Sean Shields had been fit, he probably would have started on the bench.

“He cramped up, where he hasn’t played for a couple of weeks, but he showed in glimpses what he can do.

“I think he’ll have a good impact. He hadn’t trained with us before the Maidstone game but I just asked him to be positive every time he had the ball and to go at people. I like wide players like that.”

Tonbridge, five points off the play-offs in 10th place, host Weymouth in their first home game of the new year on Saturday (3pm).