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After seeing Faversham’s historic FA Cup run brought to an end Ray Turner says his Town squad will learn from the experience and he is targeting an assault on the league.
After a 1-1 draw on Saturday, Town lost 1-0 in a third qualifying round replay at Egham in Middlesex on Tuesday, with the Southern League Division 1 side going through to host St Albans City of National League South in the final qualifying round.
Turner was philosophical after progressing the furthest in the club’s history and said: “We got further than most clubs did.”
He added: “We had two really tough games. The Southern League is physically very strong. They were more experienced than us and had a couple of ex-league players but we have young players who will learn from that.”
Town were left to bemoan a late penalty miss in Saturday’s original tie and a winning goal on Tuesday that owed much to an apparent foul on keeper Will Godmon.
Turner admitted: “It was disappointing, we were away from home and our keeper had nothing to do until he was dragged down after catching a corner and lost it on the ground – everyone close by said he was brought down and it shouldn’t have stood.
“It was a good draw if we’d made it through. Another home tie. It would have been a tough ask to get a result, but you’d have thought it might have been a 1,000 crowd and a great day for the club.
“There is no point dwelling on it. We’ve had a couple of great results, we’ve brought some money into the club and raised the profile a bit.”
Town have a free Saturday and the players have been given a week off, though they might face struggling Three Bridges on Tuesday (7.45pm) if the Surrey side have no Trophy replay.
Town are ninth in Ryman League Division 1 South but have played just eight games, with four in hand on some of the sides above them.
Turner said: “You can already see the league splitting into a top nine or 10 teams. We can’t get too concerned. There is a long way to go and I do feel a few of those sides will drop away, but it’s up to us to slowly close that gap and try and get in with the top five or six.”