ALVECHURCH boss Ian Long felt his side looked tired as they suffered play-off defeat to King's Lynn.

Church booked their place in the Southern League Central final thanks to last Saturday's 2-1 success against Stourbridge but couldn't make the super play-off stage as they fell to a 3-0 loss at Lynn on Monday.

However, proud Long doesn't want to loss to take away from his side's impressive campaign.

He said: "We looked a tired side to be honest. It looked like our game against Stourbridge took more out of us than their game against Stratford.

"We looked dead on our feet not long after the start.

"The pitch wasn't in great condition but they played it better than we did and were the better team on the day.

"Perhaps if the fixtures would have been Wednesday and Monday as originally planned then we may have given a better account of ourselves.

"It's disappointing but we need to remember how far we have come in such a short amount of time.

"We have massively overachieved this season when you consider the teams we are up against and the budgets they have.

"The players have to take such massive congratulations. When you look back it's clear to see it's been a great season for us.

"Hopefully we can keep this group together. We might be victims of our own success because there will be a lot of bigger clubs sniffing around our players over the summer but we'll be fighting tooth and nail to keep them."