A cool but dry evening brought me after work down to Chatham Town, to watch the home side seek their third consecutive promotion campaign, with a play-off semi-final against Horsham.

Kevin Hake’s Chatham side had qualified for a home tie in the play off, finishing second, on 79 points, whilst Horsham, managed by Dominic di Paola, had sneaked the final play off place coming in fifth overall with 76 points.

Chatham Town’s goals this season had come from Jamie Yila (19), Kareem Isiaka (15) and Jack Evans (12). Horsham have relied upon Daniel Ajakaiye (18), James Hammond (13) and Charlie Hester-Cook (11) for their goals.

The first half, predictably, was a scrappy and close fought affair. Chatham bundled the ball into the net early on, but the assistant referee’s flag had already signalled an off-side. As the half wore on Jack Mazzone began to find space for Horsham, being fed by the creativity of Lucas Rodriguez.

Jordi Robbins somewhat worryingly for Chatham picked up a yellow card and then escaped a second, with some late tackling. Jack Evans continued to spray the ball around and Jamie Yila ran, as ever, into the ground but at the break neither team had breached the opposition goal and the score remained at 0-0.

The second half was just as evenly contested. The game swing first to Horsham and then back to Chatham Town, for whom Jamie Yila was always a threat. Despite this at full time the game was still goalless, sending the teams into extra time.

Extra time simply replayed the events of the first 90 minutes with neither side able to break through. Then, on 106 minutes a deep Jamie Yila cross made the far post and was headed back for Kareem Isiaka to finish, sending the record 3000 Bauvill crowd wild as Chatham went 1-0 ahead.

Just six minutes later a low struck volley by Horsham’s James Hammond flew past Beeney in the Chatham goal, to claw Horsham back into the tie at 1-1.

There was no further breakthrough so the sides moved to penalties, which were held at the Horsham end of the ground. Horsham’s Carey saved a penalty from the off and then Beeney did the same for Chatham. As the last two penalties were taken, Beeney saved again for Chatham Town, leaving Jamie Yila with the final kick to win the tie.

Yila stepped up, having been the standout player all night. He calmly finished to keep Chatham Town’s hopes alive, sending them into the play-off final against Enfield Town on the bank holiday Monday and securing a 4-3 win on penalties. The crowd went wild, relieved as this was a really good Horsham side and the result had hung in the balance.

Chatham Town could feel really proud of their resolve and victory tonight. This was a difficult semi-final and they had to dig deep for the victory. The huge crowd provided strong backing and felt at times like an extra man.