Rochester United won a thriller at the weekend to beat Lordswood in the FA Vase.

Matt Hume’s side were three goals down at the break against Medway rivals Lords but stormed back in the second half to lead 4-3, conceded another late on, before winning on penalties.

Tom Loynes scored the winning spot-kick to send Rochester through to the second round of the national competition for the first time.

It was a great day for Hume’s side, a league below Lords, and a good chance to see how they fared against a higher-ranked side.

“It was a fantastic game, one of the best I’ve been involved in,” Hume said.

“To come in 3-0 down and beat them was great and what was good for me was that there was no difference in the levels, as far as I could see.

“We deserved the win, we played some good football and scored some good goals.”

Lordswood took the lead on 13 minutes through Jake Embery, capitalising on a mistake at the back, and the hosts doubled their lead through Rahman Kareem.

It got worse for Rochester when Harry Fleming fired in a third in stoppage-time.

Despite the scoreline, Hume remained confident.

He said: “It definitely didn’t feel like a 3-0 lead in my opinion. I felt like we started the better side and had a few half chances we could have done better with, then we made a calamity mistake for the first goal. They hadn’t really bothered us up until then.

“They then scored a second and we were a bit shell-shocked. We were all over the place for a while, heads had gone down a bit and I was thinking, ‘get in at 2-0 down and we definitely have a great chance’ and then they hit a 25-yard worldy that went in just before the break.

“Walking in at half-time I still felt we could do something. That third goal had actually made them think nextdoor in the changing room that the game was already won. I told the players ‘they think they’ve won it’ and we used that to our advantage, it helped gee them up.

“We got out the traps and second half we were far the better side and really had a go at them.”

Jack Nelson pulled one back for a corner five minutes into the second half and a minute later Ben Wyness cut the lead to one after a goalmouth scramble.

Lucas Payne hit the bar before Max Morgan levelled on 58 minutes.

It got better for the visitors when Mack Reilly put them ahead, only for Embery to level it up two minutes from time. The tie went straight to penalties after finishing 4-4.

“They were awful penalties by both teams,” admitted the Rochester boss.

“One of ours was skied, one hit both posts before coming out, they missed their last two and Tom Loynes scored to win it for us.”

Rochester United have made over £2,000 in prize money from the FA Vase and Hume was thrilled with a home draw in the second round against Fleet Town, a side enjoying a good start to the season at step 5 Combined Counties Premier Division.

Hume - who is also the Rochester United chairman - said: “It’s more money for us with a home draw, so that’s great.

“Fleet are a decent outfit. They are in the same league as Abbey Rangers who we beat in the first round, they will be good, but let’s hope they do the same as Lordswood and maybe underestimate us.

“We know we are better than what people think we are.”

Hume and his team will now turn their attention back to their SCEFL Division 1 promotion challenge.

They start the weekend sixth in the table - with games in hand - and host third-placed Canterbury City at their Rede Court Road ground this Saturday.

Hume said: “You could see the excitement from the fans we had there at Lordswood and there’s a buzz on social media, we have Canterbury Saturday which is a big game for us, a few players are back for us, not quite match fit, but hopefully it’s all coming together.

“The league is our most important thing and I know Canterbury will be in and around it but off the back of last weekend we have to use that to our advantage and I know our players want to win the league. We’ll focus on that now.”

The Fleet Town game will be played on Saturday, November 9.