Sittingbourne Football Club will be playing in Ryman League, Division 1 South next season.

Their place was confirmed after an independent arbitration hearing on Monday rejected Thurrock’s appeal against a three-point penalty.

It means the Essex club are relegated from the Premier Division into Division 1 North, keeping Bourne in South.

Joint-boss Jim Ward wants to forget the summer-long saga and get on with the season.
He said: “It got to the stage where I didn’t care what league we were in.

“Financially, it was always better to be in South with all the derbies but if we’d ended up in North and had more travelling, so be it.

“Me and Danny (Ward, joint-boss) are quite excited about the season. The chairman (Maurice Dunk) is enthusiastic and there are a lot of good people at the club.

“I know teams are spending a lot of money in South. We’re way behind money-wise but I’m happy with the squad we’ve got."