MANAGER Les Jones has spoken of his disappointment at seeing his Malvern Town side miss out on clinching the Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup on Saturday.
Town were handed the chance to finish their season in style with a cup win at the Langland Stadium after Bewdley Town pulled out of their semi-final.
But they were unable to convert their opportunity as Pershore Town came from a goal down to secure a 2-1 victory.
“We are clearly disappointed to lose what was a close match,” Jones said. “We have been on a fantastic run and it would have been a fitting end to the season, but it was not meant to be.
“Once they went 2-1 in front we dominated the game and created four or five really good chances to get the equaliser. But it was either a good save by their keeper or us just being wasteful, which cost us.”
However, Jones said the club should not dwell too much on the defeat as he said they should instead use the campaign as platform to build for the future.
“We had a difficult start to the season, but since the turn of the year we have been in top-of-the-table form and we finished it over by playing in a cup final, which is fantastic,” he said.
“We have got a young squad, who have developed tremendously this year, so if we can keep most of them together we can go onwards and upwards next season.
“Our reserves will also be playing in a higher league next year which will strengthen the squad as a whole and we will have an u18s side, so the structure will be in place to be more successful next year.
“There are obviously people we are looking at bringing in. But at this level it is all about retaining your current squad and if you can add any extras to that then that’s a bonus and we will be trying to do that over the summer period.”