Manager Ben Smith was looking forward to penalties before Joe Taylor’s injury-time winner for Ramsgate in the FA Trophy.

Taylor struck in the 96th minute as Rams twice trailed before winning 3-2 at Sheppey in the first qualifying round.

Victory extended their 100% record in all competitions this season to seven matches but boss Smith quite fancied a shoot-out.

“On possession and stuff it’s an absolute deserved win, said Smith.

“But in terms of how the game was panning out, and the narrative of the game, I was actually looking forward to some penalties, to be honest.

“Where the Trophy isn’t the priority for us this season, I was thinking ‘OK, it’ll be nice to see some penalties and see if the boys have got the character to do that’ but in the end we got ourselves a win.”

Smith made six changes, including a start for the returning Lee Martin, who rejoined from Ashford on Monday.

Josh Ajayi’s free-kick cancelled out Dan Carr’s opener but with Ramsgate 2-1 down after Jacob Lambert’s cracker, it was the substitutes that turned the game with Lewis Gard levelling in the 88th minute before Taylor’s decider.

“The game was crying out for them,” said Smith. “I owe it to the fans to try and win the game and I owe it to the players to try and win the game, so we decided to bring those boys on and it worked.”

That said, Smith was happy enough with the performance of his rejigged side at Holm Park.

Rams used the tie to give others a chance and dominated possession before Sheppey got a foothold.

“We made six changes just to rotate the squad,” said Smith.

“Myself and the chairman made an agreement this wouldn’t be our priority at all.

Report: Sheppey 2-3 Ramsgate

“It was a game for minutes for the squad and we’ll continue to do that throughout however many games it is.

“I thought we started really well.

“For the first 15 or 20 minutes, we were really good and they were just looking for a counter.

“They had a 15-minute spell where they suddenly came on to us a bit and our distances as a team in the build-up were miles away and we were causing our own problems.

“If Lee Martin doesn’t get a deflection on the ball, their lad’s offside for the first goal but he does get a deflection and he’s clean through one-on-one and scores. You can’t odds that.

“Their second goal, it’s from a corner and Roarie Deacon should head it out but we’ve got so many footballers in the team, he’s tried chesting it down to volley it clear and slipped.

“It’s a mistake from us but take nothing away from their lad, it’s a great finish and you applaud that.

“At that point you’re thinking we haven’t played badly here but we haven’t really made their keeper work.

“I was pleased for Josh Ajayi - I thought he played well, got his goal and looked a threat - but you can tell we’re a new group.

“We’re getting in the final third and not really penetrating.

“That’s something we’ve got to work on although taking Joe Taylor, Alfie Paxman and Lewis Gard out of the team, they are players who make good decisions in those areas.”