BASINGSTOKE Town Football Club have finally won promotion as Champions of the Isthmian League Southern Central Division.

The footballing Gods were on 'Stoke's side as they overcame all odds to beat South Park Reigate and lifted the coveted silverware.

Going into the game, Basingstoke were in second place on goal difference to Walton & Hersham, both on 86 points.

In order to stand a chance of stealing the title, Basingstoke would need a big favour from Thatcham Town who were playing host to Walton & Hersham.

The game kicked off at a fast pace, and was end-to-end for the first 20 minutes, with South Park capitalising on a neat move after a long spell of Basingstoke possession with an incredible piece of individual brilliance from Sam Tutt, who beat nearly all of Basingstoke's defenders and slotted home a goal on the 30th minute.

A penalty awarded to Basingstoke in the 45th minute was rifled into the top corner by Brad Wilson, and the relief throughout the team was visible.

Shortly after half-time, the Dragons were awarded another penalty, which Wilson slammed into the bottom right corner after sending the keeper the wrong way in the 51st minute.

In the 74th minute, South Park were caught in possession by 'Stoke, and George Reid was able to lob the keeper and score a third for Basingstoke after his initial shot was palmed away.

Late in the game, word spread that Thatcham had equalised to make it 2-2 against Walton & Hersham in the dying moments, and the Winklebury Sports Complex erupted with the 1,577 Basingstoke fans in attendance singing "We are top of the league".

It wasn't long after that the full-time whistle blew which, naturally, was followed by a pitch invasion.

@basingstokegazette Congratulations to @Basingstoke Town FC who won the league on the final day of the season #football #nonleague #basingstoketownfc #weliveincities #basingstokegazette ♬ team - favmusicvibes

The Gazette caught up with the chairman, Jack Miller, who said: "I can't believe it, we just had to get our job done here and pray for good results elsewhere."

He added: "We just had to believe and do our job, and that dream became a reality."

He continued: "It's unbelievable, Basingstoke haven't been champions in my lifetime, the last time we were was in 1985."

Dan Brownlie also spoke to the Gazette after the match, he said: When we heard that ripple of noise from the crowd with five minutes to go, we knew Thatcham had done it and we now had to hold onto a 3-1 win, it was incredible."

He continued: "It's been a long time coming and the club and all the fans deserve it."

He added: "We didn't see it coming, we gave ourselves a 15% chance of doing it today we just had to do our job, and thankfully Thatcham have done theirs."