Fortune favoured the brave after Sheppey’s late win on Saturday took them into the final weekend with a play-off chance within their grasp.

The Ites now need to win this Saturday to make the Isthmian League Division 1 South promotion play-offs but opponents Cray Valley are also in the mix.

It’s a clash that should see one of the two teams make the top five in the final shake-up - although Hythe could still gatecrash the play-off party with a win, if the Sheppey match at Cray ends level.

Tuesday night wins for Beckenham and Cray pushed Sheppey down to sixth - one place outside the play-offs - but victory for Jack Midson's side over Cray will take them back in as the two sides end the regular season with a huge clash.

A 2-0 win at home to Lancing on Saturday kept The Ites in contention. Brad Schafer nodded in Danny Leonard’s 88th-minute cross before Warren Mfula added a second on the break, slipping the ball through the keeper’s legs to seal the points.

It was tense before those goals for the majority of the 735 in attendance. Boss Jack Midson knew his team needed a win and replaced a defender for a forward in the latter stages. That bold decision paid off.

He said: “We got to a stage where it was 0-0 and we’re thinking a point is not really going to be enough, we had to go for it, we had to get someone on.

“Sometimes we have taken Eddie (Allsopp) off and gone for two strikers but he was playing well and getting on the ball in the hole so we couldn’t take an attacking player off. It was stick or twist. Connor Wilkins’ calves were cramping up a bit so we went for it, we went three at the back, put another body forward and it paid off in the last 10 minutes.

“You get judged by your decisions and we had to be brave with that one, it worked out. We could have got caught on the break and lost 1-0 but we had to go for it. It was the right choice.”

The Ites now head into their final game of the regular season having won their last three. They have found some great form in the latter part of the season after Midson changed things around with his personnel to get the right blend.

Since losing 4-2 at home to Haywards Heath in mid-December - a fourth defeat in five at the time - results have picked up dramatically. A 4-1 win at Swale rivals Sittingbourne ended their year in style and they haven’t looked back.

“It is brilliant for all the players to find ourselves in this position,” said Midson.

“Some of those who left the club had helped it to get where it was and win promotion, but at every club some people move on and new people come in.

“We brought in some young, exciting, hard-working and honest players and that togetherness we have had with those players has set us in good stead for the position we’re in and for the future of Sheppey.”

Sheppey lost 3-1 at home to Cray Valley back in November in a match where both Midson and his assistant Jono Richardson played. In the midfield areas they were given the runaround and the boss hopes a much-changed side will cope better this time around.

“They are a good side, probably one of the best sides we’ve played at home,” Midson said.

“But we are a lot stronger now with more of an attacking threat as well.”

The Isthmian League play-offs take place next week, with the Semi-Finals on Tuesday and the Final on Friday, April 28.