Sheppey United suffered a final-day defeat but outgoing boss Geoff Record has praised the team’s efforts after a difficult year for the club.

The Ites had to deal with their legendary manager Ernie Batten’s illness and death in mid-March along with some long-term injuries to key players and the resignation of their chairman in January.

It’s been far from straightforward for Sheppey but Record has helped keep the first team competitive in Isthmian South East, with a 10th-place finish.

Kevin Watson will now take charge of the team, building a squad for a new challenge in 2025/26, with Record accepting an ambassadorial position at a club which he’s supported, played for and managed twice.

“We went out with a bit of a whimper, really,” Record admitted, after a final-day 2-0 loss at Sevenoaks Town.

“The last thing I wanted was it to be a typical end-of-season game, and it turned out exactly that!

“But I think you’ve got to get it in perspective.

“You’ve got to remember that this is only our third season in this league for Sheppey United, and some of these other sides have been in there for decades or more.

“It takes a while before you can really mount a serious challenge, so I think the progression of Sheppey United to achieve what we did last year, end up seventh and then 10th this year, with everything that's gone on, that’s not bad. Everyone needs to take great credit for that.

“I explained to the lads after the game, it’s been an extraordinary season, a brilliant start. I think we were top of the league in August and then we managed to stay in the top five or six for a big percentage of the season.

“It was probably February when we started to slip out of that and we had activities off the field problems that affected us, letting a couple of players go. You can’t expect the same results if you’re trying to keep costs down and stuff like that, it just doesn’t happen. Then of course Ernie was unwell, so it’s no surprise we slipped really.

“Overall, with all that considered, it’s gone pretty well and it’s just a matter of regrouping in the summer and go again with whatever Kev wants.”

Sheppey were up against a Sevenoaks side managed by their former assistant Marcel Nimani and it was one of their old players, James Bessey-Saldanha, who gave the home side the lead on 26 minutes. James Jeffrey doubled the advantage soon after.

“It was a poor first half,” admitted the Sheppey boss.

“We had a couple of good chances to score ourselves in the opening 10 to 15 minutes but then they pretty much dominated us in the first half and we found ourselves 2-0 down. We lost the game on that first half performance really, which wasn’t very good.

“We did improve in the second half. We played a lot better but we couldn’t get a goal and all they had to do was just defend well, which they did.

“I can’t complain really, I think the lads gave me as much as they could and, of course, I’ll never forget the game against Sittingbourne.

“Although that was 0-0, that was a hard game and with such a big crowd it turned into a bit of a cup atmosphere really. I’m never going to forget that last home game.

“It’s been tough going at times this season because of the circumstances. For me personally, I’ve had the upset of losing my best friend. It was hard at times.”

Record bowed out hoping he’s helped improve some of the players at the club and picked out a few names that he’s seen flourish.

He said: “What I’ve enjoyed over the last couple of years is seeing the improvements from the likes of Lekan (Majoyegbe), Aiden (Prall) and now Rhys Wyborn, that’s been really good.

“Lekan played in a position that I played in and we had many chats and his football’s really pushed on, along with others in the team.

“They’ve just got to keep working and improving.”

The ambassador role is something Record was happy to accept, now he has retired, ready for Watson to come in and take over. He added: “It’s my hometown club and it’s very hard to say no!”

The 2025/26 season is due to start on August 9.