CHRIS Flood joked that winning promotion with Slough Town this season has come a year too late for the striker.

Flood, 29, joined The Rebels from Gosport Borough back in December 2016 and had hoped to secure promotion in his first year at Arbour Park.

He scored 12 goals in 24 appearances, including a hat-trick in a 6-0 win away at Leamington in January 2017, but suffered defeat against The Brakes in the play-off semi-finals three months later.

However, with 24 goals in 46 appearances this term, Flood has been a key part in their promotion-winning season this time around, including netting the equalising goal in the 2-1 play-off final victory over Kings Lynn Town.

Flood told the Observer: “I jokingly said to Neil Baker (joint-manager) that is was a year too late for me because I joined the club half-way through last season with the objective to get promoted.

“I’ve never won promotion through the play-offs before but it’s a better feeling than winning the league. We all ran over to our supporters and it was a great feeling.

“Fair play to our supporters because they were brilliant and really pushed us through on the day.

“We had a few beers and songs with them back at Arbour Park, which was a great laugh, and it was a great day in general.”

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Chris Flood shows off the promotion play-off trophy.

He continued: “I don’t know if it was a great game to watch for the supporters but there was a lot of pressure on it for both teams.

“Kings Lynn started the better but we forced a few mistakes in their defence and eventually scored.

“We scored just before half-time, which is a great time to do so, and their fans turned on them a little bit.

“It was a good ball in from James Dobson and I rose above the defender to head the ball down and into the ground.

“If you look back at our season there are not many games where we’ve failed to score, and we’re one of the top goal scorers in the country.

“To go a goal behind is not ideal but it’s not uncommon for us. It didn’t change our attitude and we managed to change the game around and get the victory.

“There pressure was on Kings Lynn because we were playing away from home and came into the match as massive underdogs They relieved the pressure by allowing us to play our own game.

"The lads work so hard for one another and we've got a lot of quality which eventually shone through. We dominated the second half so I'm delighted.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Chris Flood celebrates his 24th goal of the season in the 2-1 win against Kings Lynn Town.

"It was the two perfect times to score because the opposition can't get back at you."

Flood added: "I didn't feature or start in about 20 matches this season so I'm very happy with my goals tally.

"It shows just how good the squad is that we can rotate and still keep on winning, and that is a credit to Neil and Jon Underwood for putting it together."

Grab a copy of the Observer today for more match reaction plus action pictures.