Non-league club AFC Whyteleafe have been awarded the league title and promotion despite finishing third.
The Surrey side learned of the news after the two teams that finished above them, Jersey Bulls and Redhill, were docked points for fielding ineligible players.
GettyAFC Whyteleafe are heading up, despite finishing the season third weeks ago[/caption]Jersey topped the Combined Counties Premier South on goal difference after finishing level on 96 points with Redhill.
Yet a three point deduction for each has seen them drop below Whyteleafe who finished third on 95 points.
The Surrey side have now jumped up from the ninth tier of English football, to the eighth, the Isthmian League Division One South East.
Commenting on the surprise news, co-manager Kelly Waters told BBC Radio Surrey that he’s experienced the other side of the coin earlier in his career.
“I feel great that we’ve been crowned champions and been promoted to Step Four, but at the same time it’s a very strange way to go about it,” he said.
“I feel quite sorry for Jersey and Redhill in the situation that they’ve had, I’ve experienced it myself before when I was managing at Balham and it’s painful.
“But they have to enforce the rules to make sure people don’t use them inappropriately and in the end we’ve been a beneficiary of that and we couldn’t be happier to be back in Step Four.”
Jersey were the first to learn of their point deduction for fielding a player who was suspended during a 4-0 win over Tooting and Mitcham United in March.
That had seemingly handed the title and promotion to Redhill, who were then punished for the same offence.
Only one automatic promotion spot is up for grabs in the Counties league, and now the pair will take to the play-offs.
Waters has been on the other side of similar heartbreakGettyJersey face Fleet Town and Redhill take on Cobham with the winner of the semi-finals and final joining Whyteleafe in moving up a division.
The title ends an incredible season for Whyteleafe who also made the FA Vase final, losing 2-1 to Whitstable Town at Wembley on May 11.
The team are a phoenix club and only founded four years ago after the original side folded.
Bringing the team back together was Waters, who is not only co-manager but chairman.
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