Sittingbourne stood no chance of bringing Joe Taylor back to Woodstock Park.

Last season’s 27-goal top scorer joined Folkestone last Thursday, having grown frustrated by a lack of opportunities at Vanarama Conference South Farnborough.

Brickies boss Matt Wyatt stayed in touch with Taylor after his move to Farnborough but couldn’t afford to re-sign him.

Wyatt said: “We didn’t stand a chance of getting Joe back. I’d love to say we sat down and talked about it but it didn’t get that far. It was never going to happen, for various reasons.

“Money does come into it and it’s no good me saying anything else. He was on good money at Farnborough but I couldn’t even have offered him what he was on here last year.”

Wyatt still believes Taylor has what it takes to play at a higher level despite dropping back to Ryman League, Division 1 South.

He added: “From what I understand, it was getting him down doing all the travelling and not playing. If Joe plays regularly and scores a few goals, I’m sure there’ll be other clubs looking at him again.”