Clive Cook says guiding Hythe Town into the play-offs is his greatest achievement in football.

The Cannons had just four points from 10 games when Cook and joint-boss Tony Beckingham replaced Tim Dixon in the Reachfields dugout in September.

Beckingham quit four weeks later but under Cook’s stewardship, Hythe won 27 out of 35 games in Ryman League Division 1 South.

Their points record since his appointment matches that of champions Folkestone, who had the title wrapped up by Easter.

Hythe’s dramatic turnaround was completed on Saturday when they beat Chipstead 3-0 to qualify for the semi-finals.

Cook said: "It’s probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life in football.

"If we, as a group, had the first 10 games, Folkestone wouldn’t have won the league by now. We’d be right behind them.

"I had to be bold and lose the players who were there because they weren’t a bit of me.

"That’s nothing against the players but it wasn’t my way of setting out my stall.

"I had to be careful with what I brought in and what I let go, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a squad.

"The players have bought into exactly what I wanted them to do. They worked hard to gel.

"I brought in a blend of experience and youngsters and it’s worked. If it hadn’t, I would have had egg on my face.

"The goalposts gradually got moved and all of a sudden, you’re just outside the play-offs. We were nibbling away, winning six, seven, eight games on the trot and weren’t getting anywhere.

"But we knew we had to keep patient, keep our cool and we would get there in the end – and we did."

New signings, funded by chairman Paul Markland, helped transform Hythe’s season. Alfie May, Frankie Sawyer and Jack Harris have scored 49 goals between them while Hythe’s defence - strengthened by the arrival of Nick Reeves and Craig Cloke - is the second-best in the division.

Cook said of Mr Markland: "I can’t speak highly enough of the guy. He wanted to succeed, he didn’t want to go down.

"Because of the precarious position we were in when I took it, the first thing was to get out of trouble.

"He’s been brilliant, supportive, always there to talk to, always there if you’ve got a problem."

Hythe’s final game of the regular season is away to Faversham on Saturday.

Faversham need a win to have any chance of making the play-offs while victory for the Cannons would guarantee at least third place and a home semi-final.

Cook said: "There won’t be any resting, it’s full-on. It’s like a cup final for us because we want the home draw, so we must win.

"They need a lot of luck to get in but they won’t want to lose to us.

"We’ve got a lot of fans going down there so we’ve got to do the right thing for them."

The play-off semi-finals take place on Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm.