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Chipie Sian wants Punjab United to target a play-off place next season after their Kent Senior Trophy triumph.
They will hope to finish their campaign in style in the Southern Counties East Premier Division when they host Lordswood this Saturday, having collected silverware in emphatic fashion with a 6-0 success over Deal on Sunday.
Manager-chairman Sian, whose team also visit Tunbridge Wells tonight, insists a top-10 finish was always a target this term.
A four-team play-off system comes in for the 2023/24 season when the champions automatically will be promoted to the Isthmian League and those finishing second to fifth can challenge for the other promotion position.
Sian wants Punjab to be one of them.
“Our target now is play-offs,” he said.
“If we go for the play-offs next year, that’s a fantastic target for the club.
“If we can keep a group of players who are embedded with the club now, and maybe add a few, I think we’ll have a really good chance.
“I just feel really gutted that I lost a lot of players before the season kicked off - to injuries and some people got offered deals where I said ‘You can’t turn that down, you need to go’. Within a month or two, they came back.
“From October, we looked unbelievable - but I wish I had those sorts of players from the beginning of the season because we probably would have been in and around the play-offs.
“What a season you’ll have next year!
"You’ve got Faversham, Corinthian will be in the league as well.
“Everyone always says top-five but, hold on, you have Faversham, Corinthian and we don’t know what will happen with a few of those at the top, do we?
“You could have Phoenix back in here. But why not [aim for the play-offs]?”
Sian accepts the key to any promotion bid will be keeping players like young attacker Jayden Hussain, who bagged a hat-trick in their Trophy triumph at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium.
“The key is to sit down with a lot of them and see where their minds are at,” he noted.
“But we’re in a good position. The boys are embedded in the club.
“Of those I’ve spoken to, 90% are staying, which is fantastic.
“A lot of them are at an age now where they want to stay at a club for a few more years and then maybe go into coaching or come into the management committee. Like, Ashley Probets.
“He’s going to be a coach, as well as a player.
"When you see players like that here, they’re professional and they’re fantastic. That’s the key for us.
“If we lose them, it’s going to be tough again. We’re finally at a stage where the club can push on.”
Striker Paul Vines, 39, opened the scoring against Deal from right-back Chris Edwards’ fine cross. He’s agreed to stay in a similar role to that offered to one-time Arsenal player Probets.
Sian said: “He’s still going to play but he’ll be coaching as well.
"That’s what we’re going to do with both Ashley and Vinesy.”
William Johnson-Cole and Theo McKenzie also struck against Deal, who went into the Final 18 matches unbeaten.
Sian said: “I think that’s unbelievable in this division to go 18 unbeaten. I didn’t know that, to be honest.
"But they’re still in for promotion and they could make the play-offs. I said to their chairlady [Natalie Benville] ‘Good luck and I hope you do what you have got to do’ but Sunday was our day.
"Fair play to them, they were very respectful and said we were the better side.
“They’re a good side but I just felt we were much better.”
The Final was played in front of a crowd of 1,851.
Sian embraced the occasion and enthused: “I loved it.
“I loved everyone, shouting and having a go as I came out. But there were great sets of supporters on both sides.
“We’ve been to Deal this season and we had a great time down there. I get on really well with their chairlady, she’s lovely.
"The camaraderie between the two clubs is good.
“It was just our day.
"Sometimes, it’s written and I think, with the way we played on Sunday, everyone knew we had a great game.”
