Sittingbourne boss Reece Prestedge letting the dust settle on Isthmian South East season before holding talks with squad

Sittingbourne manager Reece Prestedge intends to speak to his current squad before entertaining the idea of any new signings.

Prestedge is allowing the dust to settle following the Brickies’ Isthmian South East play-off semi-final exit at AFC Croydon last week.

Everyone needs a break after a busy campaign which saw the Brickies rise from 12th when Prestedge took charge to finish fifth before going down 2-0 to a Croydon side who lost the final on penalties to AFC Whyteleafe.

“I’m just having a bit of a breather and I’ll go into it when the time’s right,” said Prestedge, discussing his plans for the squad.

“A few of the boys have asked but I’ve just said it’s been a long season, it’s been like a full season within that spell since we came in, so let’s enjoy a little rest and we’ll have our chats a bit later.

“You also get other players asking if we might be interested in signing them but I’m going to speak to our players first before anyone else because that’s the right way to do it.

“We need to have a discussion as a management team and the board about plans as well.

“I think everyone’s just having a little bit of time away to reassess and then we’ll have those conversations.”

A third successive play-off campaign - with two semi-final exits sandwiching a penalty shoot-out defeat in last season’s final - shows Sittingbourne are on the right track.

They’ve been a model of consistency in achieving a hat-trick of top-five finishes and next season they will try again to get over the line.

“The boys have given everything, and that’s all you can ask for,” said Prestedge.

“You’ve got to take the positives out of it and do it again next year now. If you look at the last three seasons, we’re the only ones that have been in the