GRAYS Athletic manager Mark Bentley says his side must bounce back from their Ryman League Cup final defeat by making sure they are still fighting for a play-off spot come the final day of the season.

Blues lost 3-2 to Hendon tonight, the same side they play in the league on Saturday as they bid to make the top five.

But second-placed Hendon will no doubt prove to be a formidable barrier, as they prepare for the play-offs themselves, with Bentley knowing a win may be all that is good enough to give Grays a chance come the final day next weekend.

“We have to give it our all on Saturday and give ourselves a chance when we visit Kingstonian on the last day,” he said.

“Obviously we would have loved to have won this competition but Saturday is arguably a bigger game for us.

“The boys have worked hard to get themselves in a position to go for the play-offs and we want to keep that going.”

Blues were beaten 3-2 by Hendon, with an Andre Da Costa double and Kwezie Ibe proving too much, despite goals at the end of either half from Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson and Shaun Cronin.

And Bentley said he was proud of his players, naming Hendon goalkeeper Ben McNamara as his man of the match.

“Their keeper was excellent for them,” he said. “Fair play to Hendon they played well and worked hard for each other but we played well enough to win and I am proud of the boys.

“We left ourselves too much to do in the end I think. Even at 3-1 down I didn’t know who I wanted to take off as we were doing well.

“We play Hendon at Aveley on Saturday having played two games on lovely smooth 3G pitches. We will see how different it is on a different surface.”