CHRIS Taylor says that Swindon Supermarine must comeback stronger next term and look to win the Southern League Division One South and West title.

Having suffered a heart-breaking 5-2 play-off semi-final defeat to Merthyr Town, the team who also beat Marine in last year’s play-offs, the midfielder is keen to take the lottery out of the equation.

“I’m still pretty gutted to be honest,” Taylor told the Advertiser 24 hours after the defeat. “The whole season came down to just one game and we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“We have to come back next season with the aim of winning the league.

“We are capable. We beat all the top sides, but we just weren’t consistent enough against the smaller sides and that is something we have to change.

“Of course, if we have to go down the play-off route again, then we do, but the aim has to be automatic promotion.”

Taylor admitted that the journey back to South Marston from the Merthyr was quiet as they came to terms that the campaign was over for another year.

“Schoolboy defending cost us at Merthyr,” the 29-year-old said. “That is hard to take because if they were better than us then you just have to accept it.

“We have been to the play-offs for the last two years now and this one is quite hard to take.”

Taylor, who is in his second spell at the Webbs Wood Stadium after originally leaving in 2011 as he went to Australia and turned out for Melbourne-based Dandenong Thunder, believes that it is important that the club retain the current squad for next term.

“We have to keep everyone together,” he said. “We are a good side, we just need to show that over the course of a season.

“If we can keep everyone together and add some more quality to the squad then we can have a good year.

“What we have to avoid is conceding five goals again because at any level of football, if you do that then you are not going to win matches.”

Meanwhile, Wootton Bassett finished their Hellenic League Premier Division campaign on a high, with a 1-0 win at Brimscombe & Thrupp last night.