Sheppey Rugby Club hold on to reach Kent Salver Final after mistaken victory celebrations cut short with five minutes still to play

Sheppey Rugby Club are preparing for a Kent Salver Final after a second-half comeback win at New Ash Green on Saturday.

The Rams trailed their higher-league opponents 19-10 at the break but hit back to win 25-24 in a dramatic finish.

Pete Jones’ side thought the game was over after Billy Spoor’s late penalty from what they assumed was the last play.

Celebrations were premature, however, as it turned out there were still five minutes to negotiate.

New Ash Green - unbeaten in their previous eight games - knocked at the door and had the chance to win it when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts from the actual last play.

But with their first-choice kicker off the pitch, the hosts missed the target.

Max Cornell, Ben Jamieson and Will McCall were the Sheppey try-scorers, with Spoor kicking 10 points.

“It was a real tight game,” said Sheppey coach Jones.

“We started well, went 3-0 up and were playing some good rugby, then we’ve conceded three soft tries.

“We’re 19-10 down at half-time and I said to the players this could be our last 40 minutes of rugby this season.

“It’s time to empty the tank, go out there and play. Trust yourselves, back yourselves and go for it.

“New Ash Green were getting tired - they’d worked hard playing a physical game - and we just clawed our way back into it.

“We got back to 19-17 then threw an intercepted pass which allowed them to run the length of the pitch for a try which, luckily, was in the corner, so they missed the conversion.

“We managed to get within two points again and then we got a penalty in front of the posts which we thought was the last play, but it turned out it wasn’t.

“We went from being delighted to, ‘Oh no, there’s still five minutes to go’. We had to change our