Thornton, pondering the experiences of another season in Division One, remarked: "It's been tough this year but we want more, everyone here is ambitious. We experienced play-off football in 2006 and it was tremendous, the players lifted their game. People say we do well to survive in this division but I don't want to settle for just surviving, we want to give the supporters something to cheer and be competing for the top four, not struggling.
"We need a bigger squad. We suffered this time because John Gallagher missed most of the season, Francis Maloney was out injured for eight matches when he and Paul Mennell were beginning to gel and he was not the same when he returned. We lost Danny Maun through suspension for six matches and Mark Toohey also missed a few important games through injury.
"Those are big gaps to plug for a club like Batley and we need to be keeping first team squad men match fit in the second team. When I lost two centres, I had to turn to the amateur game. When Halifax lost their centres they brought in two experienced players. That's the difference and it's frustrating but there were still only five out of 18 games when we didn't get at least a point."
Thornton justifiably takes great satisfaction from the fact that almost all the new recruits did themselves justice and was particularly impressed with the former Dewsbury trio of Ian Preece, Maun and Kevin Crouthers, while Kevin King and Byron Smith also made an impact and Paul Mennell was a huge success.
He added: "Kev Crouthers was like a new man and played so well and you couldn't criticise Ian Preece because he always gave 100 per cent in training and playing. Ash Lindsay was another who led by example.
"Paul Mennell and Mark Barlow made a great half-back pairing and I wish we could have had them from the start. Playing Paul straight away was a gamble because he had so little first team experience. But I knew him and had every confidence he would prove a good player.
"We showed how close we are to being a good side when we brought in a couple of quality loan men in Jermaine McGilvary and Aaron Murphy. In that period we played some excellent rugby, I always feel good players make good coaches, the only trouble is loan players cost you a lot of money.
"We started the season quite well and finished in good style but a poor spell in mid-season cost us. At one stage we were in the top four and the semi-finals of the Northern Rail Cup. Three weeks later we were in the bottom two and out of the Cup after a poor showing against Doncaster when our mistakes cost us a final appearance. That was a massive disappointment and was our worst performance for a long time."
Thornton pointed out that all Batley's best performances came against leading teams. He added: "It's as though we get ourselves up for these matches, but we have to do it against teams from lower down in the table. Sheffield beat us twice, we lost at home to Featherstone and Dewsbury, these are games we should be winning if we are to challenge near the top."
Thornton said one of the most pleasing aspects of the campaign was the double over Whitehaven. He added: "I have been here eight years as assistant and head coach and never beaten Whitehaven. To beat them home and away was a massive plus."
Asked if he had any wishes for next season, Thornton said: "I'd like a bigger budget but that's how we have to operate at Batley."