Hythe Town are one win away from pulling off one of the great promotion stories.

They go to Whitehawk in the Isthmian South East play-off final tonight (7.45pm), looking to upset the odds one last time.

One of the pre-season relegation favourites after narrowly staying up last year, and with one of the smallest budgets in the division, the Cannons were 15th at the midway point of the season.

But a scintillating second half of the campaign saw Hythe win 14 of their last 19 games, including five and six-match winning streaks, to grab the final play-off place on the last day of the season.

They finished with the meanest defence in the division, conceding 34 goals in 38 games, with 17 clean sheets, as manager Steve Watt proved there’s more to football than who’s got the most money.

“Players are grabbing money all over Kent at the moment and Watty is the antidote to that,” said Hythe secretary Martin Giles, after Watt returned for a second spell in charge last summer.

“We can’t compete financially with other clubs and we aren’t going to get the best players unless they are prepared to play for less money, and that’s what Watty brings.”

Supremely well organised, Watt has created a team who give absolutely everything, with a togetherness centred on an “us against them” mentality, with the manager using every trick in the book to fire up his players.

Crucially, and often overlooked, there’s no shortage of talent.

The journey continued as Hythe came from a goal down in extra-time to beat league runners-up Ramsgate on penalties in the semi-finals on Tuesday night.

Whitehawk, 1-0 winners over Beckenham in the other semi-final, stand in their way in tonight’s promotion decider.

“We’ll do what we can do,” said Watt.

“It’s a hard, hard place to go to - it will be a tough game.

“We shouldn’t be where we are but we keep on winning.

“Winning’s a habit and you see the togetherness the boys have out there.

“They’re willing to die for each other and that’s all I ask every week.

“Just do what we do, just be Hythe Town, and then if you lose I’ve no problem with that.

“I’d have had no problem losing the semi-final after what the players gave.

“I’m just so pleased for them that we fell on the right side of it.”

Hythe’s run to the play-offs has surprised many but not Watt, who maintained all season that was the plan.

He added: “It’s easy to say that now we’ve done it but my message has never been different.

“I said it when we were 16th earlier in the season, I’ve always felt we’re a play-off team and that’s why I stuck with these players.

“There’s not been many changes since the start of the season because I believe in them and the belief’s just grown as the season’s gone on.

“I felt they’ve needed to believe in themselves a little bit because a lot of them have been let go by clubs or clubs haven’t done much to keep them because they think there’s better out there.

“Sometimes the players need that belief in themselves that they’re able to achieve something like this and I think you saw that against Ramsgate. That belief and togetherness got us over the line.”