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Faversham manager James Collins felt his side gave a good account of themselves during their FA Trophy defeat at higher-league Folkestone on Saturday.
The Lilywhites went behind early on and looked set to go in at half-time 2-0 down until a fine free-kick from playmaker Eddie Allsopp gave them a route back into the tie.
Town, whose run to the first round of the competition is the furthest the club have ever gone, pushed for an equaliser after the restart but Isthmian Premier Invicta held on.
Collins, though, was pleased on the whole with what he saw from his team.
He admitted: “It didn’t look good in the first 10 minutes, I must say!
“But once the game settled down a little bit, we got into our stride.
“Obviously we are massively disappointed to lose, but I thought we gave a good account of ourselves.”
Kieron McCann struck for Folkestone in just the sixth minute - sparking a change of approach from Faversham.
David Smith doubled the home side’s advantage at Cheriton Road in front of a 708-strong crowd, only for Allsopp to get the better of Folkestone keeper Tim Roberts to give his side a route back into the game soon after at the end of a highly eventful first period.
Collins explained: “We are usually quite organised but, to be fair, we couldn’t just sit in. We tried to sit in and it didn’t work for us really.
“They were just going to pick us off so we thought the best form of defence was attack.
“We gave it a bit of a go and were getting a bit of joy, and we were making some good chances.
“After they scored, we had the one off the line - which, really, we have got to score. Then at 1-0, we have missed a one-on-one chance and they went up the other end, and scored.
“It was frustrating but I thought, overall, we gave a good account of ourselves.”
Allsopp was among those to impress for the Lilywhites who threatened, particularly when they managed to get the ball to striker Emmanuel Oluwasemo who brought others into play.
On Allsopp, Collins said: “He is a very good player. He was at Charlton last season but he needs to get game time.
“He is getting better and better with each game.
"Hopefully we can help him in his development and help him keep improving.”
Town are mid-table in Isthmian South East in 14th, nine points outside the play-offs and four clear of third-bottom East Grinstead.
When asked what his expectations are for the club’s league campaign, he replied: “Look, I think the club will be happy if we stay up. With three going down, it’s tough.
“There are hard games in our league. We felt the play-offs were realistic this season but we are where we are.
"We have been hit so badly by injuries that we have been putting round pegs in square holes and it's affecting us with the sheer amount of games.
“Look, I want to finish as high as we can. We need to make sure we are clear of relegation and, once we are clear of that, maybe you have got a chance to do a little bit better.
“It’s a rubbish cliche but ‘One game at a time’, see how we go and we will assess it from there.”
The Lilywhites play host to Sutton Common Rovers on Tuesday in the Velocity Trophy.
They had hoped to have injured duo Matt Bourne (foot) and Lewis Chambers (ankle) back for their Trophy match against Folkestone, although Collins now says the earliest either may feature will be when they visit Corinthian next Saturday when they return to league action.
