Darren Carter: Forest Green Rovers have 'unfinished business' in National League

Darren Carter's Forest Green finished second in the National League but missed out on promotion

Forest Green Rovers have "unfinished business" in the National League after their loss in Sunday's promotion final, says midfielder Darren Carter.

Rovers, who finished second in the regular season behind champions Cheltenham Town, lost 3-1 to Grimsby at Wembley to remain in non-league.

They had won their first nine league games in 2015-16, a fifth-tier record.

"It hurts. It hurts deep. We feel like we have got unfinished business now," Carter told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"We feel we should have finished in top spot - that went. Then we just couldn't quite get over the hurdle (at Wembley).

"The raw emotion of it at the moment is complete frustration. You feel like you've let the fans down. But we'll come again."

Promotion to League Two would have made Forest Green's home town of Nailsworth the smallest settlement to ever host a Football League club.

Captain Aaran Racine added: "It's still an achievement to get here, but it's just gutting.

"Next year it's obviously got to be promotion. Whether we do it automatically or in the play-offs, we've got to get promoted next year.

"Every year we're progressing. We've got a relatively young squad still. It's all a learning curve for all of us. As long as we keep progressing each year we're doing well."

Meanwhile, the club have announced that David Pipe, James Jennings, Clovis Kamdjo, Delano Sam-Yorke, Brett Williams, Lenny Pidgeley and Dale Eve will all be released at the end of the season.

But negotiations are ongoing regarding new deals for Racine, Carter, Steve Arnold, Dale Bennett, Sam Wedgbury and Marcus Kelly.

And the Gloucestershire club have extended the contracts of Elliott Frear, Charlie Clough, Kurtis Guthrie and Rob Sinclair, exercising the options of an extra year on their existing deals.