Ramsgate 3 Dover Athletic 2

JIMMY WARD says there is no reason Ramsgate should not aim for the Nationwide Conference after clinching their second successive promotion.

Monday’s thrilling 3-2 win over Dover before a bumper crowd of 1,150 at Southwood means Rams will, for the first time, line up in the Ryman League Premier Division next season.

A point from their last two matches, the first of which is at home to Ashford on Saturday, will give them the title and manager Ward believes there is no limit to what his young squad can achieve.

Ward, who has lost just 10 games in the last two seasons at Southwood, explained: "The thing about this team is that they just don’t know when they are beaten. You can put anything in front of them.

"We’ve a great feeling in our dressing room and we’re now just one step away from the Conference. Who’d have thought Ramsgate would ever be in this position but next season we’re going to go for it.

"We’re going to put the same bonuses in place as we did before the start of this season and we’re going to be fighting for those top-six spots again. Our target will certainly be the Conference."

Ward described Ramsgate’s march towards promotion as a "fantastic journey" and said that it was only really at Christmas that he started to believe they could go up automatically.

"People said we’d had too many draws but we went to big teams and got big points. We may have surprised some people but I’ve known all along that we had a lot of good players. This means everything to this club. It is a fantastic feeling."

Rams twice came behind against play-off hopefuls Dover before claiming victory with a bizarre and controversial goal which will haunt visiting keeper Darren Smith for as long as he plays.

He completely misjudged the bounce as Rams striker Shaun Welford hurled in one of his trademark long throws into the area and as the ball headed towards goal Stuart Vahid headed in from virtually on the line.

Dover’s players claimed the ball had already crossed the line before Vahid’s intervention, and in the protests that followed James Rogers was sent off for swearing, leaving them with a mountain to climb in the final 24 minutes.

Dover had taken the lead on the half hour, centre-half Craig Cloke meeting Danny Chapman’s deep free-kick to beat Jurgen Wild with a looping header from 15 yards.

But Rams drew level six minutes before half time when Stuart Vahid stooped low to glance in Michael Yianni’s near post corner.

Right on half time Dover regained the lead when another free kick was flicked on by Craig Wilkins for James Dryden to fire across Wild but within 90 seconds of the restart Rams were again level as Ben Laslett crashed home a fine left-foot drive from the edge of the box.

Both sides also hit the woodwork, Stuart Vahid with a deflected drive in the first half and Dryden with a curling free-kick while the score was still 2-2 in the second.