FEATURE: A perfect stage was set but a classic final ended in heartbreak for Corby

The stage couldn’t have been set any better.

A beautiful early Bank Holiday Monday afternoon in May, nearly 3,000 fans inside the ground and two free-scoring teams prepared for a one-off battle. The winners would go up, the losers would stay where they were.

Corby Town and Bromsgrove Sporting had seen Peterborough Sports deservedly crowned Southern League Division One Central champions but there could be no question that the play-off final pitted the next best teams against each other.

The Steelmen had seen off Bedford Town in their semi-final while Sporting defeated Sutton Coldfield Town and, due them finishing second in the final table, it was Bromsgrove who would have home advantage in the showpiece.

What followed was a dramatic contest, which swung one way and then the other before it was eventually decided in an energy-sapping period of extra-time.

Ultimately, of course, it ended in heartbreak for Steve Kinniburgh’s Corby team.

They took the lead through Elliot Sandy but were pegged back before half-time by Richard Gregory’s header.

Dan George kept out a Gregory penalty early in the second half but once the outstanding Jason Cowley had scored twice in the space of three minutes to put Bromsgrove 3-1 up, the game looked to be over.

But Corby, as they did on a few occasions during the season, fought back.

Steve Diggin pulled one back and then, with six minutes of normal time remaining, hometown hero Jordon Crawford levelled things up in front of the delighted away following.

The drama continued in extra-time with the hosts regaining the lead through Kieren Westwood and Cowley was denied his hat-trick by a second George penalty save.

But the Steelmen couldn’t find a way back with their shattered players left devastated while Bromsgrove and their fans were able to celebrate promotion to Step 3.

Sandy, of course, can still be found scoring goals at Steel Park and while the final feeling of that day was one of devastation, he admitted it was an incredible game to play in.

“It was a big crowd and as a team we set about it as we had been all season,” the Steelmen striker said.

“We’d beaten Bromsgrove at their ground in the FA Trophy so we knew we had it in us to do the job.

“It didn’t work out the way we wanted but everyone who saw that game knew we had a group of players who had the will to never give up and we showed it right until the very end.

“We did it quite a lot over the season. I think there were two occasions where we came back from 3-0 down but got a result.

“At 3-1 we were under the cosh but we got it back to 3-2 and I think they started to worry a bit and we had nothing to lose.

“We chucked everything at it and at 3-3 it really could have gone either way.

“Even now, I think back to it and it was such a poor goal we gave away for 4-3 but there were tired legs out there at the time.

“It was one of those things. We just couldn’t get over the line, which unfortunately for me, is something that has happened on too many occasions.”

Sandy certainly isn’t kidding with those last few words.

Last year’s defeat was, incredibly, the fifth time in a row he has been on the losing side when reaching a play-off final.

It doesn’t make for pretty reading - twice with Brackley Town, once with Kettering Town in that infamous game when the Poppies surrendered a 2-0 half-time lead before losing 3-2 to Slough Town in 2014, once with AFC Rushden & Diamonds when he scored in the 2-1 extra-time loss at St Ives Town in 2016 and then again in the West Midlands in 2019.

You can understand why he prefers to deal in titles and automatic promotions rather than play-offs.

He joked: “It’s just quite incredible, the chances of losing five play-offs in a row must be really small!

“I have had games at home, twice for Brackley and we lost, and then one with Kettering when we were 2-0 up at half-time on the back of an incredible run where we hadn’t conceded many goals.

“I don’t think anyone in the ground thought Slough would come back and win that but fair play to them.

“With Diamonds, I scored in that final but we got done in the last minute and then lost in extra-time and then there was this one at Bromsgrove.

“It’s fair to say I really don’t fancy play-offs!

“I have been lucky enough to win four leagues so that’s nine seasons where I have been there or thereabouts and some players don’t get one or two.

“I am happy to have got into those situations and when things didn’t go my way in some of those play-offs I always watched the opponents celebrating because I used that to spur me on.

“But at Bromsgrove, it was the younger lads I really felt for. Guys like Connor Kennedy, Sam Warburton and Jordon Crawford, who is a lad who deserves to be playing at a higher level.

“I just felt for them more and the club as a whole because it deserves to be playing at at least the level above where we are at.”

In the home dugout on that May bank holiday last year, as he still is now, was Bromsgrove manager Brendan Kelly.

He has led the way in Bromsgrove’s rise and while it was him and his players celebrating at the end of the most dramatic 120 minutes of the season, he admitted he got carried away when his team went 3-1 up as he thought the job was done.

“It was every neutral’s play-off final dream and probably every fan’s as well because they pay their hard-earned money to see good entertainment,” the Bromsgrove boss said.

“But I have to say the semi-final and the final were the two least enjoyable games of the season for me!

“On the day of the final I did feel confident. Had we gone into it having not beaten Corby in the league earlier then our confidence might not have been as high as it was because of the thrashing we got at their place (Corby beat Bromsgrove 6-0 in their league match at Steel Park).

“We created a gap between us and them towards the end of the season and that gave us that extra spring in our step.

“I am usually quite calm when we score goals in matches but when we got the third one I ran up the touchline and those celebrations were a bit premature.

“We were really in the ascendancy but Steve really built a never-say-die attitude into his team and they scored quite a few late goals if I remember correctly.

“It was probably an outstanding performance from a mental point of view rather than anything else.

“I had always been working on the mentality of the squad and I think that’s what got us through.

“We were 3-1 up and then got pulled back to 3-3 but we still found a way. It’s a game that will live long in our memory.”

Respect was certainly shared between both dugouts and both sets of players.

In play-off football there can, of course, only be one winner but Kelly added: “The game was played in good spirits and there was a lot of mutual respect between the two teams.

“I know Gary Mulligan because he is a fellow Dubliner and we went to the same school, albeit at different times, so there was plenty of banter flying about.

“I think both teams played good football and bagged lots of goals and made it exciting. We have always tried to put a good brand of football out there for our fans.”

Corby are still doing all they can to try to get back to Step 3.

If and when that happens, they could do worse than follow the path taken by both Peterborough and Bromsgrove who were sitting top and fourth of the Premier Division respectively when matches were suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

And Kelly believes ‘continuity’ is the key.

“Continuity has been key for us, it was important to keep the majority of the squad together,” he explained.

“We didn’t change our ways, we wanted to play our expansive football and see where it took us.

“We have had a great debut in there but I do think we have over-achieved in our first season at the level.”

Hopefully, it won’t be long before Corby join their former adversaries at the next level. And when they do, those devastating feelings of a year ago will ease a little bit.