Two in form teams played for the biggest prize of their histories when Rusthall hosted Punjab United in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division play-offs decider, and it took extra time and penalties to separate them.

Following a gruelling one hundred and twenty minutes, there were tired legs and drama in the shoot out before Punjab prevailed to win promotion to step four for their first ever time in front of nearly fifteen hundred spectators.

Unsurprisingly with so much at stake, the match started very cagily. Louie Clarke had the first chance when he nicked possession in a dangerous area but Punjab’s central defenders converged on him quickly and he fired over under pressure.

There were no further chances until just before the half hour mark when the hosts would have gone ahead had it not been for the agility of Punjab goalkeeper, Mitch Beeney. Yassin Fares went round him down the left and tried to slot home.

However, Beeney got back to knock it onto the post and out, and it then rolled across the six yard box where the league’s Golden Boot winner, Clarke, pounced. Beeney got across and was deemed to have it under control as the Rustics’ striker forced it into the net, and the goal was disallowed.

Clarke then shot straight down Beeney’s throat before Rusthalls’s goalkeeper Serine Sanneh made a comfortable save from Steven Ratcliff’s header.

Early in the second period Sanneh made an easy save from Wayne Bushell before the hosts’ Ian Anderson sliced a shot high and wide. Punjab substitute William Johnson-Cole was unable to get accuracy or power on a header from a Chris Edwards cross and it bounced wide then Charlie Clover was given the opportunity to drive forward by a back-pedalling Punjab defence but he chose to shoot early and blasted high over the bar.

Sanneh made a good diving save to push out a shot by Edwards, and the Punjab danger man then intercepted a Sanneh pass and hit it first time from thirty yards. The hosts’ goalkeeper was alert enough to get back and hold it without too much fuss.

As extra time beckoned, Josh Reid crossed to the near post and Clover poked it just past the post, then Reid shot straight at Beeney after getting behind the defence. Anderson struck a free kick that was tipped over by Punjab’s goalkeeper and he had one last save to make in the initial ninety minutes when holding onto Dan Blunn’s header.

Harry Ottaway had the first chance in extra time with a first time effort that Sanneh claimed at the second attempt, then Edwards sliced wide when arriving late after Jordan Campbell’s long throw was nodded out.

Three minutes before extra time half time, the deadlock was broken. Reid brought a difficult cross-field pass down superbly before his quick feet took him past his man and to the bye-line. He then pulled it back to Ayodeji Owoeye who slotted it into the bottom corner from fifteen yards.

In the second period of extra time Frank Griffin and Jack Kirby combined well to give Owoeye a clear sight of goal but he hit it straight at Beeney.

Jack Hopkins, Punjab’s leading goalscorer, had been kept quiet by the Rustics’ defence until he finally had a chance with a header that went just wide. The visitors kept pressing and with five minutes remaining, they equalised. A cross evaded Sanneh and Johnson-Cole was in the right place to finish.

Having already been cautioned, Hopkins committed another misdemeanour and was shown a second yellow two minutes from time. His dismissal meant that he would not be able to add to his season’s haul of twenty five goals.

Owoeye had one last chance for the Rustics but again shot straight at Beeney after taking his time to set himself up, so it meant that promotion would come down to a penalty shoot-out.

Beeney took the first one himself and gave his opposite number no chance. The next three were all missed or saved before there was another talking point. Sanneh saved from Johnson-Cole but the assistant referee flagged to say that he had come off his line too quickly. Johnson-Cole retook it and, this time, he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.     

Fares and Kirby converted for Rusthall as did Edwards for Punjab before Sanneh saved from Ottaway. Reid converted and after five penalties apiece, the score was three-three. The visitors’ Zak Bryon fired home but Reuel Powell-Downey’s effort was saved by Beeney and Punjab’s celebrations started.

Rusthall: Sanneh; Kareem ( Powell-Downey 68), Blunn, Bissett, Anderson; Adeyemi (Griffin 68), Njuguna; Clarke (Reid 71), Clover (Owoeye 87), Fares; Kirby.

Sub not used: Hobbs. 

Goal scorer: Owoeye (102)

Yellow cards: Adeyemi (60 foul), Owoeye (103 Ungentlemanly conduct)

Punjab United: Beeney; Lewin-Thomas, W. Bushell, Ratcliff, J. Campbell (Scudder 106); Bryon, Singh (Johnson-Cole 52); Edwards, Hopkins, Bird; R. Campbell (Ottaway 77).

Subs not used: Gill, Monger. 

Goalscorer: Johnson-Cole (115)

Yellow cards: Singh (7 foul), Lewin-Thomas (51 foul), Hopkins (70 foul, 118 foul)

Red card: Hopkins (118 second yellow)

Referee: Alex Gordon

Assistants: Steven Tunnicliffe and Richard Myers

Fourth Official: Tyler Diminieux

Attendance: 1,444