Dartford chairman Dave Skinner was emotional after seeing the culmination of so much hard work pay off as the club returned to the top flight of non-league football.

Following the 1-0 victory over Welling in the Blue Square Bet play-off final, there were tears at Princes Park from many of the people who, 20 years before, had seen Dartford’s senior side withdraw from competitive action.

Mr Skinner (pictured) said: "There were quite a few like me who were holding back the tears at the end of the game.

"Everyone refers back to the week we played in the Kent League when we lost away to Darenth Heathside and Crockenhill in the same week and everyone thought, ‘why are we bothering?’ Well, Sunday showed why we bothered.

"This is the fulfilment of all of our dreams."

He added:"We made a promise of Conference Premier football in 10 years when we moved in here and we have done it in six, so we are four years in credit. Who knows when and if we will get there (Football League).

"Hopefully we will push on from here and eventually we can get into the Football League, improve the stadium and hopefully survive in the Football League.

"We won’t break the bank and we go into there with a reasonable budget. If it’s good enough we will survive and if it’s not, we will come back and have a go at the Conference South again."