Chatham Town 1 Horsham 1 (AET): Chats win Isthmian League Premier Division play-off semi-final 4-3 on penalties at the Bauvill Stadium

Jamie Yila fired Chatham Town to the Isthmian Premier Division play-off final with the winning spot-kick against Horsham.

Neither side could break the deadlock in normal time but both found the net in the second half of extra-time. Kareem Isiaka struck in the 106th minute for Chatham before James Hammond levelled it up six minutes later to send the tie to penalties.

Chats keeper Mitchell Beeney missed a penalty for Chatham in the shootout but went from villain the hero as he saved twice before Yila scored to win it 4-3.

Enfield Town beat Wingate & Finchley 1-0 in the other play-off tie of the evening, to book their place in Monday’s promotion final at Chatham.

Chats had only recently been beaten 3-1 by Horsham in the league so knew the challenge they were facing on Wednesday night. A capacity-crowd of 3,000 were at the Bauvill Stadium to watch.

Just three points had separated the teams in the final league table.

Horsham looked to get at Chatham from the off but it was the hosts who had the ball in the net early on.

Jack Evans played in Bradbury, who finished well with 10 minutes on the clock, but the flag went up for offside.

The early pressure from the visitors failed to trouble Chats keeper Mitchell Beeney, making a routine save from Harvey Sparks and watching Hammond’s effort clear the packed home end.

Referee Jake Hillier issued a flurry of early cards, including a 15th-minute booking for Miguel Scarlett for not taking a throw quickly enough. Jordy Robins and Evans both went into the book within the first 35 minutes for fouls.

Chatham managed to slow the tempo by knocking the ball around but Horsham remained threatening, with Hammond crashing an effort off the upright and Danny Baker’s follow-up shot saved by Beeney.