Penalties glory as Hucknall Town clinch promotion in final at Birstall United

“It will take a few days to settle in. The emotion begins to rise again when you realise what you've done,” he said.

“I grabbed Banno (coach and former player Michael Banister) at the end and said 'what have we done – what have we started?'

“It's the first time in the 20 years I've known him that I've seen him emotional. It means a lot to him as he's been at the club for a while.

“Having him with me, it was something we always wanted to do. For it to have gone how it's gone it's exceeded everything we thought from the beginning.

“We enjoyed the semi-final. We made the most of it as it was one step further than we thought we'd go. We wanted to get into the play-offs, though I can't say I didn't think we'd get through the semi-final – we fancied ourselves to do so.

“Going beyond our expectations shows what we could achieve as a club if we get it right and support each other throughout the club. Everyone needs to see the bigger picture – it's not just about putting 11 players on the pitch.”

New signing Niall Towle was the man who blasted home the final spot kick to send the visiting Yellows into raptures as they saw their side lifted into a higher division for the first time in many years.

Unchanged from the semi-final the week before, which had also been won on penalties, Ingle had set out to achieve promotion in just his first year in charge alongside Banister – and did so in the most tense and spectacular fashions a year on from Hucknall’s semi-final failure at Hinckley.

The game itself was one of opportunities few and far between.

Both sides were looking to play direct and pick out players in the channels to no real avail, thanks to a superb shift on the Yellow side of proceedings from Sam Sims in midfield.

The first chance of note did not arrive until the stroke of half-time, as a long ball over the top from Kai Wilson caused chaos between the Birstall keeper and his defence and allowed Craig Westcarr to steal in and get a toe to the ball, but it rolled agonisingly into the side netting.

The second half was a different affair with both teams smelling blood and throwing caution to the wind. Birstall were the first to foray forward as skipper Aaron Short was on hand to slide in and block a low cross from the flank early doors.

Hucknall soon bit back and found the breakthrough through Kieran Knight, who moments before had seen a header blocked off the line.

The winger got a knee to a chaotic Joe Ashurst corner that pinged off nearly everyone in the box, but managed to end up in the back of the net courtesy of Knight.

It wasn’t to last long, though, as the hosts soon restored parity from the penalty spot after the referee spotted a handball inside the Hucknall area.

The last 15 minutes of the action saw the game open out even further, with Knight turning onto a fine Sims pass before volleying on goal with power, only to be denied by the goalkeeper comfortably.

Birstall should have taken a late lead as a long ball over the top with 10 to go allowed their winger to get around Kinnerley and square it inside, but their striker and captain slipped under pressure from Billy Brooks and Short and failed to capitalise.

In a now end-to-end affair, Ashurst was next to have a go as a cross from substitute Oliver Brown was cleared as far as the midfielder, allowing him to strike a venomous first-time attempt that fizzed wide of the near post.

Birstall again were faced with a golden opportunity with only seconds left in the game, as a missed clearance allowed two hosting attackers to foray in behind with only Kinnerley to beat, only for Jamie Crawford to somehow get back in time to put in a sensational sliding tackle and kill the chance.

It was, then, to be penalties that decided the winners of promotion in Leicestershire.

Joe Ashurst was first to take in front of the ferocious home fans, but he rolled his kick comfortably home.

Kinnerley was the hero in the semi-final with two penalty saves at Bourne Town, and continued his heroics again here as he stooped over to his left to beat behind Birstalls first strike.

Aaron Short and Billy Brooks were the two players to step up next for Hucknall with both centre backs blasting their strikes home, but both were matched by Birstalls next takers, with Kinnerley unlucky not to reach the first and bewildered by the second, after their taker had seemingly hesitated immediately before kicking it to no referee intervention.

It wasn’t to matter, though, as Niall Towle stepped up with decades of Hucknall Town history on the line to dispatch his penalty high into the top right corner to send the Yellows up into the Premier Division for the first time since 2011.