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Ashford Victoria may have been knocked out of the Charity Trophy at the weekend, but Vics manager Ryan Mills believes that losing to Bromley Green could be the kick start his side needed to spearhead a serious title challenge in Division Three this season. Victoria were just eight minutes away from taking Premier Division side Bromley Green to a penalty shoot out in Sunday's 3-2 first round defeat, when Green substitute Robbie Greenfield popped up with a cruel winner deep into extra time to send the Kent League club through to the second round of the competition and avoid an potentially embarrassing giant killing.

"It was kind of weird to celebrate a defeat, but everyone recognised that they had given everything and taking a side like Bromley Green to extra time was a great achievement" said Mills.

"The players were fantastic on Sunday, and they proved that they are capable of facing sides that compete at a higher level, and hopefully they will be able to do that on a regular basis with Ashford Victoria over the next few seasons. The work rate of our boys was amazing and a few looked absolutely shattered at the end, and I couldn't have asked for more commitment from any of them".

"We even had several very good chances to win the game in normal time but we didn't get that extra bit of luck you need at times to finish off a good chance. We fancied our chances if we could take the game to penalties, but we lost concentration for just a second and opposition like that do not need a second invite to score match winning goals" added Mills.

"We can take an awful lot away from this game now and hopefully take the added confidence and enthusiasm we have found into our league campaign and this weekend's fixture at Brabourne".

Mills admitted that it was the best team performance he had probably seen in the four years the Vics have been in existence, but singled out his youngsters for extra praise. The Vics boss started an eleven with an average age of just 22 against Bromley Green after opting for youth over experience.

"We fielded a very young side, probably thinking about it one of the youngest we have in recent times, and I was very proud of the lads. Josh Hatcher was outstanding at left-back and didn't look out of place against higher division opposition at all, and for a 19-year-old to play like that in a relatively new position just shows what a player we have on our books" said Mills.

"Also Luke Stafford did exactly what was asked of him and had a brilliant game anchoring the midfield, a position that I think his style of play suits him best. He loves to go in and win the ball and for a youngster never panics when in possession, a quality that we spotted straight away when we first saw him play last year"

"And when you think that the likes of them two along with Wayne Cleave, Dan Bushell, Matt Deeble, Joe Mort and Richard Coombes are all 22 or under, we have a great group of young players already first team regulars with great futures ahead of them" added Mills.

One other player Mills was keen to single out was left midfielder Joey Mort, who scored the second Vics goal and was a constant menace to the Bromley Green defence with his skills and tricks.

"Joey also had an outstanding game and is a player that I really rate highly" said Mills.

"The goal he scored from a free-kick was brilliant, and he could have bagged another two or three on another day. The thing I love about watching him play is that he seems fearless, and will try all sorts of flicks and outrageous tricks to beat an opponent or to make something happen. He is strong, fast and can really hit a ball, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up picking up one or two individual awards at the end of the season at the presentation evening".

"Joe did want to drop back and play at left-back this season, but I really believe he is much stronger in the oppositions half of the pitch, and if he can score a few more goals over the next month or two then his confidence in himself will increase and I think we'll see an even better player".

The Victoria players also spoke out after Sunday's game, with goal scorer Dan Bushell particularly full of praise for his team mates and manager.

"I felt quite hard done by losing like that, but everyone should be really happy with their performance. We had a couple of good chances that we should have scored from, and Coombesy only really had one or two saves to make" said Bushell, who joined Victoria from Adisham Nomads in the summer.

"I thought Tony Mason fully deserved the man of the match award as he had a brilliant game and was quality at the back, a solid performance. Let's hope we can take that performance into next week now".

"Luke Stafford had a good game with Jonesy in midfield, and I think (Matt) Deeble was knackered at the end playing up front on his own. But that was a quality formation today that Ryan chose, hard, hard work though for the players, but the Gaffer is a genius!".

Skipper Andy Jones said "Gaffer should be proud today, that's his team out there that he has put together", with defender Wayne Cleave adding, "It was a bit gutting to lose, but we still played well and showed that we can play at a higher level".