Cray Valley boss Steve McKimm wants the whole club to enjoy life in the Isthmian Premier – but insists they’re not there to make up the numbers.

The Millers were playing Kent County League football in 2011. But they’ve enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent seasons, including the FA Vase Final at Wembley, taking League 1 Charlton to an FA Cup replay and winning the Isthmian South East title last season by losing just one league game.

It’s the stuff dreams are made of but McKimm doesn’t want them to feel out of place as the club also plays catch-up off the field to ensure their facilities reach the required standards.

“There’s loads going on in this ground which will be done by the end of September - a new stand’s going in, turnstiles, dugouts, everything is moving forward,” said McKimm, whose side lost 2-1 at home to Dartford in their Isthmian Premier bow on Saturday.

“We’ve got to get it right on the pitch - and we will - but outside of that, the volunteers, the owners, everything was perfect on Saturday bar the result.

“We wanted to win, we’re hungry to win but sometimes it doesn’t go your way. What you have to do is lick your wounds and go again on Tuesday night, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

“Promotions and relegations aren’t done on the first day of the season. It’s going to be a great experience but we’re not here to make the numbers up.

“I hope that second half performance showed what we’re about. You’ve seen us before, you know what we’re about. These boys have character and we’re going to need that at points this season.

“Some results will go for us, some will go against us but as long as it’s 90 minutes of pure graft and quality at the right times then we’ll be fine.”

There was no doubting the effort and desire of Cray Valley’s second-half performance at the weekend.

They were unusually subdued in the first 45 minutes but were the better side at times despite being down to 10 men after the break.

“This team has bundles of spirit and bundles of quality but you have to do it for 90 minutes, not 50. That’s what let us down,” reflected McKimm.

“We had them on the backfoot in the second half, and on another day it would have bounced a different way and gone in the back of the net.

“We’ve got to get used to losing because the teams in this league are very good, and that’s not me throwing any towels in. We’ve got to be realistic to the quality of management teams and players we’re up against this year.

“I’ll look at what we did and how we can push on again on Tuesday night, there were a lot of positives and we’ve got some tired legs so they’ll be changes because they can’t do that for 50 minutes and not be tired.

“I’m pleased with them, disappointed with the result, it was a good crowd which gave it a great atmosphere as well, but until they scored I think there were a few nerves there once it went 1-1.”

Cray’s next challenge is a derby against Cray Wanderers. It’s the first competitive meeting between the two clubs and will be a first home league game at their new Flamingo Park home for Neil Smith’s Wanderers.

“These are the games you want to play in,” stated McKimm. “Cray have given 900 season-tickets away to the community which is fantastic.

“It’s great they’ve got their own ground, they’re not sharing and they’ll be buzzing for their first competitive home game. There will be a good crowd there, we’ll be going there to give a good account of ourselves.

“There’s no easy game, every game is going to be tough at whatever level of football you play - your next game is your toughest game. We prepared well for Dartford, didn’t execute what we wanted, we’ll go again on Tuesday and try and execute what we want then.

“We’re here to enjoy ourselves but be very competitive. The owners and the board wouldn’t allow me to do anything different, as a person I wouldn’t do anything different and the players wouldn’t either. We’re going to have a great season, we’ll have good spells and indifferent spells but that’s football - we’re going to enjoy it and we’ll be very competitive.”