The north London club once again punched above their weight during the 2017/18 campaign, but their manager is still eager to improve

Ham & High: Action from Wingate & Finchley against Hendon in the Bostik Premier (pic: DBeechPhotography)Action from Wingate & Finchley against Hendon in the Bostik Premier (pic: DBeechPhotography) (Image: Derek_Beech)

Wingate & Finchley boss Keith Rowland admitted he is looking forward to a little break now the Bostik Premier season has come to an end, but conceded it won’t be long before he is champing at the bit.

The 46-year-old guided the Blues to a more than respectable ninth-placed finish following Saturday’s 1-0 away win at Harlow Town.

After making the play-offs in 2017, Wingate were unable to finish in the top-five this time around and ended up 10 points short of fifth in the table Leiston.

Nevertheless, it has still been a fine campaign for the Maurice Rebak Stadium club, but Rowland is keen for them to keep pushing on despite their lack of resources.

He said: “I’m looking forward to the break, but at the same time, I have been in football since the age of 16 and I’m 46 now and when it’s gone for a few months you miss it.

“I have never been one to enjoy pre-season, but once the league starts I enjoy it and time will tell what happens because the club have to cut their cloth accordingly every season and my worry is we could fall too far away from being competitive with the budget.

“Obviously it would be a shame if that happened because this is a good football club and during my two-and-a-half years at Wingate everyone has been great.

“Aron (Sharpe) the chairman has been great, the board have been great and the facilities, groundsman and staff are all great and they’ve given me every opportunity to do well and we have done well.

“But the club can’t stand still and it has to keep progressing. It is like everything in life. You have to keep going and progressing and we can’t always use the budget as an excuse for doing okay.”

It shows the ambition of the Blues boss that despite Wingate boasting one of, if not the lowest budget in the division, he is still keen for them to compete with the so-called ‘big boys’ in the league.

While the N12 club don’t have the biggest financial resources, they do have a blossoming youth set-up and with facilities at their Maurice Rebak Stadium home improving, the future looks bright for Blues.

An 89th-minute penalty from Sean Cronin secured a final day win at Harlow which saw Wingate finish on 69 points – only six less than last season despite losing several key players during the campaign.