Sheppey United attracted their biggest crowd of the season on Saturday as supporters took advantage of the club’s generous offer.

A ‘pay what you want’ admission fee led to a crowd of 1,575 turning up - more than watched their historic FA Cup first round match against League 2 side Walsall in November.

Sheppey’s first game of the season in Isthmian South East attracted just 177 fans to Holm Park.

Director of football Matt Longhurst described the show of support as “phenomenal” and has been delighted with the way the community have backed the club in recent months.

Longhurst said: “Part of the reason for me being brought in was to engage with the community, the kids, the youth section etcetera and it was a good day on Saturday.”

The Ites enjoyed themselves on the pitch, too, with a comfortable 3-0 victory over relegated Erith & Belvedere.

With one game to go, Sheppey will finish inside the top eight and Longhurst said: “It’s the second season in the division, crowds are up, the youth section has grown, we have a new chairman and you just have to look back at the start of the season, where the manager and the chairman left, on the dawn of the season.

“The stadium sponsor went with the chairman. We had finance go, manager go, chairman go, so for the club to recover from that and finish in the top seven or eight and get a great FA Cup run, on the TV, revenue generated, increased the youth section and the crowds, across the club, it’s been a fantastic effort.”

Sheppey will now be working hard to take the club to the next level.

Longhurst added: “Chatham Town are the real blueprint because they have had success at the same time (as increased crowds). They have done it and got promoted and are in the play-off hunt for this year.

“Chatham are probably the club everyone would aspire to be, they have built it really well off the pitch as well.

“They got a community club of the year award and it shows that once you engage in that community and they become part of the club, the crowds go up.

“When the crowds go up, the finances go up, secondary spend is higher, then you can afford better players and with better players you can win more games of football.”

Sheppey are set to expand their youth teams from 14 up to 25 next season and with it will come extra interest in the first team and more fans in the stands.

Longhurst has been impressed that they’ve managed to attract support from the community even with a relatively modest youth structure currently in place, compared to his previous club Ramsgate, who boast around 70 teams.

He said: “There is a massive influx of the community coming to Sheppey United and it’s not just the youth teams because there aren’t many of them, that is a real plus. It is so massive that it is the island’s team.”

The Ites are ending the season strongly. James Taylor, a Dan Bradshaw penalty and Jacob Lambert - with his fifth goal in four games - completed a win over Erith & Belvedere.

Ernie Batten’s men finish the season at East Grinstead this Saturday.

Longhurst said: “There was that little wobble with five or six defeats in a row and that really curtailed the play-offs.

“If we had picked up a few more wins in that period I think we would have made the play-offs.

“Ernie is looking to strengthen in the summer months, with a bit of experience to guide us through so one loss doesn’t turn into five.”