Our ambition has to be bigger next season and that means going for the top spot, says Hythe Town coach Will Graham

HYTHE TOWN coach Will Graham says he wants to avoid the play-off lottery again next season.

The Cannons completed their Ryman League Division One South campaign in fourth-place but were humiliated 7-0 at Worthing in the play-off semi-finals on the Sussex coast, before third-placed Worthing beat Faversham Town 3-0 to clinch promotion to the Ryman Premier League alongside champions Folkestone Invicta.

Neil Cugley’s Folkestone Invicta walked away with the league title by finishing on 114 points from 46 games, while Dorking Wanderers finished as runners-up on 90 points. Worthing went up after collecting 88 points, Hythe Town finished with 87, while Faversham Town grabbed a play-off place on 83.

Graham said: “It’s been just over eight weeks since our humiliating play-off semi-final defeat at Worthing and we have all moved on from the night but we are all determined to never go through a game like that again!

“The gaffer (Clive Cook) and me talk several times a day, both our wives get the right hump!

“But Clive, like myself, don’t want to sit around and play the lottery next season and see if we can just sneak in the play-offs.

“Our ambition has to be bigger next season and that means going for the top spot.

“Don’t get me wrong, if you offered me a home tie in the play-offs now, I’d take it, but we have seen what Folkestone done last season and we want to taste the success they had.

“We have managed to keep most of last years’ team, who managed to get in the play-offs after picking four points up from their firs ten games.  That proves that we haven’t got a lot wrong and we just needed to refresh the overall depth of the squad.

“This being the case we have managed to bring in half a dozen new faces and we are really pleased with our business.

“The gaffer is talking to one or maybe two more to really finish the jigsaw for us to have a serious push for promotion.

“It seems the final business seems to take the longest and this has been going on for a few weeks now, which is frustrating but we will be patient because we know we have quality in the squad already.

“We report back to training on Thursday 30 June and all the players have signed forms for next season so we are all eager to get started and see if we can take last years’ overall form and really push for promotion this season.”

The Cannons kick-off their seven-match pre-season campaign with a trip to Kent Invicta League champions Bearsted on Saturday 9 July (15:00).

The Bears were promoted to the Southern Counties East Premier Division after beating title favourites Sheppey United and Glebe into second and third place.

Visit Hythe Town’s website: www.hythetownfc.co.uk