Promoted! Chichester City stun Three Bridges by winning Isthmian south east play-off final 5-0

A team who were in mid-table at the end of January and struggling to find their form on their new 3G pitch at Oaklands Park looked some way off being a side who could reach the play-offs.

Then came a 13-match unbeaten run – including 11 wins and barely a goal conceded.

It was enough for a play-off spot but Ramsgate, who’d been away at the top with Cray Valley, the eventual champions, all season were their semi-final opponents – at Ramsgate too.

No problem. After an at-times bodies-on-the-line defensive effort Chi beat the Rams thanks to Mo Jammeh’s late goal, setting up Friday night’s final against Sussex rivals Three Bridges, who themselves had gone on a superb run to reach those play-offs.

Most thought it would be close – and actually the first half was, with Bridges having the best of the chances after Chi had taken a first-minute lead through Josh Clack. And when Joe Clarke and Lloyd Rowlatt made it 3-0 before the break, City had one foot in the premier division.

Could they play sensibly in the second half and ensure victory? They could do more than that – they dominated and had a Connor Cody header and Clarke’s second to show for their superiority long before the end, and could have had six or seven. Scarcely believable.

At the whistle, Chi’s fans – there in good numbers – and fans and staff celebrated on the pitch, taking time to pay their tributes to assistant manager Graeme Gee, who had passed away at the age of 51 just 22 days before this triumph that he’d helped orchestrate and ought to have been able to witness himself.

It was a touching end to another remarkable night in the story of a football club who in 2019 were still in the county league.

Now a new challenge awaits them, but the details of that challenge can wait just a while. Because for now, the important thing is that City toast their promotion and reflect on the hard graft of many people – players and others – that has made it happen.

And as a number of them commented after it was confirmed, that one was for you Gee.