Lydd Town manager Mickey Doyle tells how penalty shoot-out hero Craig Smith came to the rescue on the morning of their play-off final

Goalkeeper Craig Smith was the hero of Lydd Town’s promotion - after nearly missing the game.

Smith made the winning save as 10-man Lydders beat Tooting Bec 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the Southern Counties East Division 1 play-off final last Saturday.

Expecting the final to be a 7pm kick-off at Tooting Bec, Smith had already made plans.

A fixture reversal, after Tooting declared their ground unavailable, gave Lydd home advantage but potentially left them without a keeper, with kick-off moved to 3pm.

Smith came good and starred as Lydd - who beat Faversham Strike Force 4-2 in the semi-finals last Wednesday - reached the Southern Counties East Premier Division for the first time in their history.

“I didn’t have a goalkeeper until 9am on Saturday morning,” said manager Mickey Doyle.

“Craig had made other arrangements, something that was quite important to him, because he thought it was a 7pm kick-off.

“I didn’t sleep Friday night. My wife came in with a cup of tea and said don’t worry, everything will be all right, and 10 minutes later Craig phoned and he said he’d be able to play.

“Then he goes and makes the winning penalty save and is probably man-of-the-match in the game.

“He saved a point-blank header that would have given them a 2-1 lead when we were down to 10 men. I don’t know how he clawed it round the corner.”

James Rogers gave Lydd an early lead but Tooting levelled before half-time and were in ascendancy after Rogers was controversially sent off.

Lydd held on for penalties, with Luke Burdon, Ronnie Dolan, Richard Atkins, Harry Alexander and Ryan Philpott scoring from the spot.

Captain Ryan Smith’s effort was saved but brother Craig made the winning save, to the delight of a big home crowd of 245.

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