'We were so close' - Sleaford Town boss praises young squad after relegation

Sleaford fell agonisingly short in their bid for survival. Photo: Steve W Davies Photography.

Matt Evans says he’s proud of his Sleaford Town players despite their relegation from the UCL Premier North.

The Greens only fell into the relegation zone for the first time this season with five minutes to play of their final game against Boston Town, a winning goal for the visitors ultimately being enough to see them overtaken by Kimberley Miners Welfare, who won 3-0 at Hucknall, and Gresley Rovers, who survived on goal difference despite losing 3-1 at Ashby Ivanhoe.

And Evans said it was gut-wrenching to lose out so late.

He said: “It wasn’t the outcome anyone wanted but it took until the 85th minute of the last game before the sinking ship sunk.

"Everyone gave it their all and it was a great effort from everyone at the club, both on and off the pitch.

"Just one goal on the Saturday would have seen us survive and it was the same on the Monday, but that just highlighted the problems we’ve had all year which was scoring goals.

"But we can sleep at night knowing we tried our best with what we had. Everyone involved us much better now than when things changed six months ago and all have learned a lot, but we just didn’t have enough.”

Evans joined the club following a significant budget cut at Sleaford which saw the departure of virtually the entire playing squad, the Greens having 21 points on the board when that occurred.

He added: “We have to be realistic as to where this group was at. We had to introduce 14 or 15 players who are probably of step seven standard or very young, where you’d normally only bring in two or three like that over a season for them to develop.

"So hats off to them for making a fight of it.”

Evans says that next season will see Sleaford aim to find their feet again at a lower level, as the club continues to grow off the pitch.

He said: “The town has supported us and we’ve been getting gates of 3-400 at times so we must be doing something right and it’s something to build on. Lincoln United won the league and their average wasn’t much more than ours.

"With so many people coming we want to give them something worth watching so it’s been good to reconnect with the community which is something we’ll aim to maintain.”