MY LADS ARE JUST 'EXTRA' SPECIAL!

WATCH OUT National League big boys, the Pub Team from Essex is back!

- MATT BADCOCK

The Iron spent seven years in Non-League’s top flight across two spells in the previous decade.

And now, under the guidance of one of Non-League’s brightest young managers Angelo Harrop, they have upset the odds again to come through a mammoth play-off campaign for promotion.

For the third straight game they went all the way to extra-time for victory, Reggie Lambe’s strike settling a 4-3 humdinger of a play-off final at Worthing.

“When I came back home after Monday, I sat there, thought about it all and I was quite emotional,” Harrop says. “The rollercoaster we’ve been on. Last year getting to the play-offs was an unbelievable achievement.

“I remember saying to my wife, ‘I really hope I have that feeling again’. A year later, winning the play-offs – even just talking about it, it’s crazy.”

Last year’s defeat to Worthing in the eliminator stung. This year they beat Bath City and Chelmsford City to reach the final showdown.

Reward

“The way we played was very different to last year,” Harrop says. “I felt this year we were a lot more open, we played a lot more football and that’s probably why we got promoted really. There was a lot of risk and reward.

“Look at the final – that could have gone either way and that’s been the same for a lot of our games because we have been more open rather than last year where we were more stubborn.