Steve Lovell is looking forward rather than back as the dust settles on a nightmare season at Homelands.

The Ashford Town boss saw his team preserve their Ryman League Division 1 South status with a last-day win over Kent rivals Chatham.

Lovell (pictured) admitted: "It has been the toughest time in my managerial career, but I am obviously delighted that we survived and stayed up.

"It’s over and done with now, and we move on. I hope next season is a lot more exciting for everyone.

"The problems started in pre-season, because nobody knew what the situation was at the club. We had a core of five or six players who stayed, but had to grab players to make up the squad.

"Injuries didn’t help either, we lost three or four of them for months, including three keepers as well as Danny Lye, Lee Hockey, Paul Jones and Mark Lovell. We were changing personnel on a weekly basis."

Lovell is up for the challenge next season, and will sit down with Ashford chairman Don Crosbie in a couple of weeks to plan ahead. But he believes the foundations are already there to target a top five finish next season.

He added: "We have got a lot of very good young players and, with three or four experienced players, I think we will have a very good squad.

"I want everybody to come back, do pre-season and play for their places."