Fleet focusing on future after play-off shootout heartbreak

EVANS SAYS CLUB SHOULD BE PROUD OF ACHIEVEMENTS - AND DO BETTER NEXT YEAR

- By KAYLEE SECKINGTON

FLEET Town manager Darryl Evans has praised the "courage, character and togetherness" of his club and taken aim at a home play-off game in 2025-26 to make it up to the supporters who were unable to travel to this season's semi-final.

After finishing fifth in the Combined Counties League Premier South and playing their last league fixture on Saturday, April 19, Fleet had to wait more than a month, until last Wednesday evening, to find out who their play-off opponents would be.

As the highest finishing team hosts the game, Fleet then had to make last-minute arrangements to travel to the Channel Islands to face Jersey Bulls, which meant getting up before dawn to fly from Southampton Airport.

In front of a crowd of 1,300, of whom only five were Fleet supporters due to unavailability of flights, the home side took the lead in the 58th minute through a Ross Stepney own goal.

However, Fleet equalised in the 88th minute through Tom Smith, and the game went to a penalty shootout, which Jersey won 3-0.

Despite his disappointment at how small margins, such as his team's pre-match preparation, might have impacted the result, Evans is determined to focus on the positives of what was an outstanding season for Fleet Town.