Ebbsfleet boss Liam Daish praised his players after seeing their FA Trophy defence come to an end on Saturday.

Fleet dominated the second half against Stevenage at Stonebridge Road, but were beaten by Peter Vincenti’s injury-time goal that gave the visitors a 4-2 aggregate win.

"It wasn’t to be," said Daish. "I couldn’t fault the players because they have given me absolutely everything. I am extremely proud of them.

"They’ve probably tasted blood in their mouths from what they gave me in this game.

"The togetherness and work-rate from everyone was absolutely phenomenal and they had nothing left in the tank at the end.

"I couldn’t have asked for any more, but we needed a little bit of a break and we just didn’t get that.

"If we had scored that first goal I think we would have gone on to win it because they were rocking."

He added: "The lads are young enough to go on and hopefully have more opportunities like this in the future."