Terry Parris is urging manager Steven King to stick with Lewes.

King was devastated this week by the news that his promotion chasing side could not go up to the Conference if they succeed in the end-of-season play-offs.

But chairman Parris wants King and his players to respond positively to the crushing blow that the club cannot meet the April deadline for necessary ground improvements.

King, who has been linked with other jobs - including the Gravesend post which was filled by Liam Daish yesterday - is out of contract in the summer and is still waiting to be offered a new deal.

This week's news has cast another doubt over the future of the ultra-ambitious manager but Parris has made it clear he wants King to stay.

Parris said: "I am very disappointed with what has happened because I am someone who wants to win matches and win leagues.

"It takes the edge off of things because we are going into matches knowing we cannot be promoted.

"But I hope all the players and the management will stick by us 100 per cent.

"We want Steven King to be the future of our football club. Hopefully he and the players can look at the long-term picture and see where Lewes Football Club will be in three years' time.

"We didn't ever think we would be a Conference team and now we are seriously contemplating getting a ground which is good enough for the Conference.

"We have had fantastic support this year and we want that to continue. We want to win promotion. Whether we can go up or not, we still want to do that."

King is bitterly disappointed by this week's developments and was reluctant to comment on what it means for the club.

Asked about his own future, King responded: "I don't know. I am manager for now."

Lewes always knew they could not get their ground up to a B grading in time for next season. Although proposals are in place for redeveloping the ground, they need help with funding from the Football Foundation who have yet to make any decisions on grants due to the volume of requests.

The Rooks had been banking on clubs being given a year's grace in the top flight of non-league football to make the necessary improvements but that prospect disappeared when the Conference made it clear all work would have to be completed by April.

They go into tomorrow's game at home to Havant and Waterlooville in third place, eight points clear of the first team outside the play-offs, and skipper Barry Moore has urged his team-mates not to let the news affect them.

Moore said: "It is a bit unfair that the league have left it so late in the season to tell clubs. There are only 13 games to go.

"I still think everybody will go into the games wanting to finish as high in the league as we can. We still want to win to prove we are good enough.

"Maybe our ground is not good enough but we are not going to go into matches any differently because we are professional and we want to win.

"It is a shame for everybody at the club, the players, the management, the board and the fans, because we have all worked so hard to get where we are."

Scott Ward returns in goal tomorrow following ankle and groin injuries. Dominique Jean-Zepherin, who had stood in for Ward for four games, has left the club.