Ramsgate finished the season a point outside the Isthmian South East play-offs after victory at Chichester on Saturday.

Early goals from Ollie Bate and Karn Miller-Neave saw sixth-placed Rams win 2-0 in the fourth and final game of Steve Lovell’s initial temporary spell in charge.

“It was a good game,” said Lovell, who has already said he is open to extending his stay at Southwood.

“Sometimes you get to the last game of the season and the boys just want to get it over with and be on their summer holidays.

“To be fair, I said to them I want to go out and finish the season properly.

“Every game should be a proper game, whether it’s the first pre-season friendly or the last game of the season.

“That’s the only way the boys know, they’re a good bunch.”

Lovell tasted defeat in his first two games after succeeding Matt Longhurst, as Rams’ losing run hit six matches.

But they thumped Whitstable 6-1 on Easter Monday and backed it up by beating Chichester.

“I know we put six past Whitstable but I think we probably played a bit better on Saturday,” said Lovell.

“The conditions weren’t easy, it was quite windy and the ground was hard, but I thought we played them very well. It was a good team performance.

“We started well, got a couple of early goals and we could have had five by half-time because we played very well.

“Second half they’ve come out and had a go but their keeper made a brilliant triple save.

“Mitch Chapman also should have scored and Ollie should have had another one.

“We’ve missed out on the play-offs by a point, which is really disappointing, but it was a good performance to finish the season.”