Ryan Maxwell said he was devastated after Sittingbourne’s Isthmian South East play-off final defeat.

The Brickies boss saw his side beaten 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in front of a record Woodstock crowd of 1,583 on Friday night.

Mitchell May gave the hosts a half-time lead but substitute Stefan Vukoje levelled and the Hillians triumphed on spot-kicks.

Sittingbourne finished runners-up with 101 points and reached the FA Trophy quarter-finals in an extraordinary season.

But Burgess Hill were celebrating at the end of a dramatic night as they joined champions Ramsgate in winning promotion to the Isthmian Premier.

“First of all, congratulations to Burgess Hill,” said Maxwell.

“Anyone that wins a play-off final should be congratulated and good luck to them next season.

“From our point of view we’re obviously devastated because, if you’re not, you’re telling lies.

“I’m only devastated for the players and the fans and the owners, who are my friends, and I do mean that.

“I’ve got broad shoulders, I’ll be fine, but I’m gutted for my players firstly because they have given me everything.

“Everything I’ve asked for, they’ve done it.

“We’ve had an unbelievable season.

“We won’t really appreciate that right now because we’ve just lost a play-off final on penalties, but I do know we’ve had an unbelievable season and the points we gathered would have been enough to win any other league, pretty much.”

Report: Sittingbourne 1-1 Burgess Hill (aet, Hill win 3-2 on pens)

Maxwell felt Sittingbourne’s long season may finally have caught up with them on the night.

Balancing FA Trophy and league commitments hit their title charge and they couldn’t keep pace with a formidable Ramsgate side despite clocking up a century of points.

They beat Merstham 4-2 in the play-off semi-finals on Tuesday night and got their noses in front in the final when top scorer May struck 11 minutes before half-time.

Burgess Hill dominated the second half, with Vukoje equalising in the 71st minute, and while he missed in the shoot-out, the visitors prevailed.

“We had to go again in the play-offs after having an incredible run in the FA Trophy,” said Maxwell.

“It was a bittersweet moment - ‘wow, well done, but you’re not promoted’ to ‘a fantastic run in the Trophy but that will cost you points in the league effectively’.

“So, there were a lot of challenges there, on top of the highs of those moments, too, but everything comes at a cost off the back of that and I already knew that anyway.

“We had to go down the hard route after losing valuable points after the Trophy run but we can’t have it all, not as a Step 4 club, so something’s got to give.

“Having got to the final, you think you’ve climbed that hurdle, you think you’ve got over that, but I felt we looked a little bit leggy, I don’t think we played at all well in comparison to our usual performances.

“I know we took the lead but we didn’t look our usual dynamic selves.

“We got in at half-time 1-0 up and I felt as if we needed to make an adjustment.

“It certainly didn’t help when we were having players go down with quite serious injuries, a sub (Luke Woodward) comes on, gets injured and has to come off, our captain (Bagasan Graham) goes down injured but these aren’t excuses, they’re just facts.

“It doesn’t detract from the fact Burgess Hill were playing the better football, they were, without causing problems in the final area.

“They’re coming here to a place that no one’s beaten us at in the league, there’s no pressure on Burgess Hill to come here and win, and that’s the truth, so I felt as if they played like that.

“They played like a team with less pressure on them. Maybe the expectation got hold of us tonight.”

Sittingbourne switched to a back three early in the second half to try and see the game out as Burgess Hill took charge.

But the hosts’ pressure paid off with Vukoje’s equaliser and while Troy Howard had a big chance at the end of extra-time, the Brickies were happy to take it to penalties.

“Sometimes you have to concede you’re not playing well, so if you go attacking, maybe you’ll get exposed,” said Maxwell.

“I just knew it wasn’t happening tonight, so I accepted it wasn’t going to be our night in terms of our usual style of play and everything else and decided to ride it out with a different shape.

“The boys’ character was unbelievable.

“I think they accepted they weren’t playing well either and just grafted and grafted and also probably accepted they were going to get to penalties to have a chance to win it.

“We had one chance on the break, with Troy, and he’s been in such fine form this season.

“I really felt he would score but he didn’t and that was our only main chance and penalties it was.”

Liam Smith and Richie Hamill converted from the spot and Burgess Hill were first to miss in the shoot-out.

But with Ade Azeez’s kick saved and Howard and Donvieve Jones both hitting the bar, it was the visitors’ night.

Sittingbourne practised penalties in training on Thursday night but Maxwell said: “Nothing recreates the moment, I’m afraid, because everyone tucked them away, no problem.

“But the moment changes things, there’s a bit of tension, a little bit of second-guessing.”