Manager Scott Porter admitted his Hollands & Blair side rode their luck at times on their way to winning the SCEFL Challenge Cup.

Fisher were quick out of the blocks in Monday’s final and struck the woodwork twice before Ben Brown scored the first of his match-winning double. Blair won the game at Whitstable’s Belmont ground 2-1.

Report: Blair 2 Fisher 1

“We weren’t at the races in the first half,” the Blair boss admitted. “We knew what they were going to do, they would come at us. We haven’t had the greatest of run-ins to the cup final, but sometimes you have to ride your luck in a cup final and we did.”

Blair had beaten Bearsted and Kennington in the previous two rounds to book their place in the final, both ties settled on penalties.

“It’s been a long journey and we have had a difficult season,” Porter said.

“We have not been at Star Meadow (their home ground was being transformed with a new 3G pitch and Blair were playing at Lordswood for much of the season).

“To go and win a trophy with the money involved at this level and to go and do it on the budget I’ve got, we haven’t got legs that other teams have got but we have got character, we never know when to give up, that is what I bring to football teams, and we have got another bit of silverware on my CV.

“This club is fantastic, Piggy, Phil, Bassy, Ryan, all of the committee are brilliant, they deserve it, we have been to two cup finals since I have been here and we fell short last year (losing to Sheppey in the Kent Senior Trophy), the club deserve this.

“We are on the up 100%. You only have to look at the facilities that we have got now. We are never going to compete money-wise with the teams up there, but we have got character, we have got leaders, we have got a lot of heart and desire and passion and that is what we bring to this football club.”

Monday’s match was won with Ben Brown’s goals but Porter admitted the striker wasn’t having his best game - and he was almost subbed before scoring the 83rd minute winner.

Porter said: “He wasn’t good and we had a laugh with him about it. We were going to bring him off, he was knackered, he was gone, but he is a threat from set-pieces.

“Our set-pieces were poor, Harry Brown’s set-pieces were poor, but he has put one on the money and I don’t care how you play, you’re not bothered in a cup final, it doesn’t matter, as long as you win the game. I don’t care.

“We have deserved to win this competition because we have just picked the trophy up, simple as that.”

There was some disruption behind the substitute benches after Blair had gone 2-1 up, within the crowd, and as both teams tried to sort it out, the match was delayed. Those added on minutes made for a tense finish.

“That was awful!” Porter said. “My head was spinning, I was mentally gone. When the referee says 12 minutes (added on) it’s a long time, especially when you are under the cosh, but then we broke away a couple of times and could have dealt with it a little better, but I am proud as punch.”

Doing it at his former club Whitstable was special too. Porter’s side even had the home dressing room.

“I have still got my signs up in there which I put up many years ago!” he said. “It meant a lot to be in that changing room again and it meant a lot to win it there.

“I have had some good times there and they are good people. The facilities are great.

“But to win this, with the resources we have got, makes it more special than what it has done in the past.”