Tonbridge preserved their Conference South status this week but manager Tommy Warrilow was in no mood for celebrations.

Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Eastbourne means Angels will spend a third season in the sixth tier of English football.

Warrilow, who led the club to promotion through the Ryman League play-offs in 2011, was simply relieved to have avoided the drop.

He said: "The most important thing was to keep our Conference South status. As a club, that is massive for us. We’re fourth from bottom. That’s nothing to celebrate.

"I’m not happy with where we’ve finished but I’d have been even more upset to have relegation against my name. I didn’t want to be the man who took this club down.

"It’s easier said than done to go up so it was a huge achievement. There are still some big teams in the Ryman Premier and if we’d gone down, it would have been hard to get back up.

"The two teams who came up this year (Billericay and Hornchurch) are going straight back down, so it shows how well we’ve done as a club to sustain our second year."

Tonbridge finish the league season at home to relegated Truro on Saturday.