MICKY Moore wants his record-breaking Solihull Moors side to see this season as the start, rather than the peak, of their efforts.

Moors end their best-ever Blue Square Bet North season tomorrow against Gainsborough Trinity, with the side already assured of seventh place.

Having been play-off contenders until last Saturday’s calamitous 7-2 defeat to Hinckley United, Moors have still been in the top ten for the entire season.

Boss Moore admits it’s been a tough season in many ways following the tragic loss of manager Bob Faulkner but he hopes Solihull have now set down a marker to build as a force to be reckoned with in non-League’s second tier.

“We are guaranteed to finish seventh, which will set a record high for the club, so I think the players should take great credit for their efforts,” he said.

“There are teams with big budgets in this league but we’ve been in the top ten all season, and that’s despite losing Bob and seeing two of our main players (Adam Cunnington and Theo Streete) leave in the New Year.

“Solihull have probably been a bottom-six side for the last few seasons so the challenge now is to become a top-half-of-the-table side and to keep progressing.

“People are probably a bit disappointed we are not in the play-offs. We would have loved to have done that. But we will keep working and hopefully we can build on this season with a team to challenge year after year.”

A run of seven games without a win has followed the end of their league record-equalling 18 games undefeated and Moore wants his team to sign off in style against Brian Little’s Gainsborough at Damson Park.

But they will without dangerman Matt Smith, who suffered a fractured wrist last week.

Moors signalled the changes in Easter Monday’s narrow defeat at Eastwood with Emeka Omwubiko, Ross Dempster, Alex Price, Henry Eze and Lee Ayres all playing 90 minutes.