The Rooks boss was on the verge of tears as he and his players celebrated on the pitch moments after the final whistle had gone – confirming Lewes as league champions and King as the most successful manager in Dripping Pan history.

And the Rooks boss was still taking in the enormity of the situation as he spoke to the assembled members of the press some half and hour later.
He said, "It's unbelievable. it wasn't about the performance really, it was about getting through games at this stage of the season.

"We showed championship form in the last six games to take 16 points out of 18.

"The first half was poor. But in the second half we came to life a little bit,and caused them a number of problems. And it was fitting that the player who scored all the goals (Booth) gets us the winner, and Siggy who's obviously been out for so long, comes on and scores a great goal."

King added, "I believed in myself. I always believed I could achieve (promotion to the conference national) if we achieved the ground. And I believe we can take the next level by storm."

The Lewes boss paid a hearty tribute to his right-hand man, assistant manager Justin Skinner.

He said, "Without Justin Skinner I wouldn't have done this. He's been absolutely different class – he's brilliant with the lads and he's been there, seen it and done it.

"He's been in the pro game and been in the non-league game. It's a combined effort of the hard work and long hours to get where we are.
"If you pull out a newspaper from five years agom when I got the job, I said I could get (Lewes) in the national within five years. We could have done it two or three years ago, but that's history, we're there now."

King talked of his continued commitment to the club – even during the two seasons when the Rooks were denied the chance to go up through the play-offs because to ground grading problems.

He said, "That was obviously heart-breaking and I had many offers (from other clubs) but I just felt that they'd given me an opportunity here and I hope that I've more than repaid it.

"There were 1,600 here today. When I came here there were 200 people watching. We build the club up, we built the fan base up, we built the quality of the players up – and I've stayed loyal to Lewes when many a person would have shut the door on them.

"I want to be here, everone knows I want to be here. The grass isn't always greener somewhere else, just because it might be a bigger club.
"This is an amazing achievement by everyone."

Talking of the season-long duel with near neighbours Eastbourne Borough, King said, "We've peaked at the right time and, no disrespect, they've fallen apart at the right time for us.

"But it's been a tightly-fought contest. I've always said it's not always the best team that wins it, it's the most consistent team.
"But this year we have been the most consistent and the best team. That's not blowing our own trumpet, everyone's recognised that fact."

• Oops! Sorry, we forgot to include Steve King's predictions for Battle of the Bosses in the paper this week. Steve predicts Chelsea to beat Man United 1-0 and Celtic to draw 1-1 with Rangers.