Staines Town into Blue Square South

May 2 2009 By Paul Warburton

RYMAN PREMIER PLAY-OFF FINAL Staines Town 1 (Taylor 109) Carshalton Athletic 0 (AET, score 90 mins, 0-0)

Scott Taylor's 12^th goal of the season for Staines Town will probably be the most important of his career.

His low stab after 109 tension-filled minutes as he darted ahead of the last defender to connect with Elliot Onochie’s cross saw Swans soar into their highest-ever level of non-league football.

Next season they will play in the exalted heights of Blue Square South. But close? It’ll never get closer at Wheatsheaf Park.

After 84 minutes it looked as if the dream in yellow was dead.

Jake Newton tangled with Carshalton’s Charlie Ide on the byline. The ref waved play on but the assistant referee on that side put a flag across his chest – and everyone in the home sections thought that was that.

However, a moment of tactical madness form the visitors saw sub Junior Kadi take the spot kick instead of top scorer Richard Jolly.

Kadi’s shot was low and hard, but Louis Wells got down quickly to palm the ball over the bar and with it, Robins chances of glory.

A tired 22 men plus, as subs played their part, then had to suffer extra time and a Staines side who started slowly and only got going in the second half.

Elliott Onochie got the ball tangled under his feet when a pull-back from Howard Newton was meant to find Leroy Griffiths instead.

But when Onochie got down the left a few minutes later to beat two defenders and centre for Taylor’s winner – he was the hero of the massive 1,198 crowd.

Before that, it had been a mixture of nerves and fatigue as Tuesday’s semi-final win appeared to take its toll. Carshalton had the better first-half chances, and Marien Ifura saw more of the ball than he would have wanted.

The Swans defender was on the end of a crunching tackle that rendered him flat out as Barry Stevens charged through. And after half-an-hour he was in the right place to block a shot after Jolly darted into the channel on the right.

But Staines’ best player of the first 45 minutes was out of the equation when Carshalton wasted the two best chances of the half.

Richard England cut in from the left to get on the end of a deft touch from Ide. But his side-foot shot from 12 yards only allowed Wells to bring off a sharp save to his left.

A half-time blast from boss Steve Cordery blew Staines some good.

Ali Chaaban was more of a threat with two decent saved shots with his weaker left foot, as was Howard Newton down the right. And Leroy Griffiths was wondering what black cat he'd run over, when the left winger’s first time volley from 10 yards was miraculously turned over by Phil Wilson in the Carshalton goal.

There was nothing he could do, however, when a fresh Taylor made everyone’s day apart from 300 Robins fans.

But there was a nice touch when the scorer was one of the first to commiserate with Kadi at the end. For all that, Staines will have to find a new four-leaf clover for next season’s big time.