Goalscorer Matt Smart helped Eastbourne Borough beat the odds to go through to the Conference north-south play-off final and said: "It feels like a dream."

Midfielder Smart produced an inspirational man-of-the-match display as Borough eased past favourites Cambridge City in the southern regional final at Milton Road.

They now travel to Stoke's Britannia Stadium on Sunday to play Altrincham for the chance to join the likes of Hereford, Exeter and Crawley in the Conference National.

It is an incredible achievement for a club playing County League football just five years ago.

Smart, whose 58th-minute goal made it 2-0 and effectively killed off the home side, said: "I'm pinching myself at the moment because it seems like a dream. It is hard to believe we are only one game away from the Conference and it hasn't sunk in yet.

"It is going to be some day out and we are all really excited.

"We will try to treat it exactly the same as we have the last two play-off games and go there relaxed, enjoy it and just let our football take shape."

Smart epitomised Borough's gutsy performance. He played without fear, won almost every loose ball in midfield and never stopped running.

In contrast, Cambridge froze. They had been hotly tipped to not only win the game but also get promotion after finishing the season 11 points ahead of Borough in the Conference south runners-up spot.

Surprisingly they decided to start with top scorer Dave Sadler up front on his own in the first half and it backfired badly as Borough dominated from the start and took the lead on 26 minutes.

They had already hit the bar two minutes earlier with an an Andy Atkin header, when Ben Austin netted with a superb strike.

The right back scored with a stunning left-foot drive in the 4-2 semi-final win over Thurrock last Tuesday and this time used his favoured right foot to hit a volley from the angle of the penalty box from Matt Crabb's floated cross.

Austin said: "I was really pleased because I had so much time to think about it and it was one of those when you either completely shank it or it flies in.

"It came a good time because if we hadn't got it they might have settled but instead it made them panic.

"We said before the game that there was no pressure on us because they were at home and were second in the league.

"We were very much the underdogs and it showed. They came out tentative and you could see from the start the pressure was on them."

The expected response from the hosts to Austin's goal never materialised and it turned into a matter of when rather than if Borough were going to get their second. It arrived when Smart guided a driven free-kick by Danny Simmonds into the bottom corner after arriving unnoticed at the near post.

The goal rounded off a great week for Smart after he was selected to play for the England futsal five-a-side team.

He said: "I have scored one like that before. It is something Danny Simmonds and I work on in training, which made it sweeter. Once that went in we could relax and it ended up being comfortable for us all over the park."

Striker Yemi Odubade, who terrorised the City defence throughout, deservedly scored the third goal on 75 minutes with a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. It was fitting the little marksman was the player to seal an historic win as it has been his presence as well as his goals - 13 in 16 games - since joining from Yeovil in February, that has arguably been the catalyst to Borough's end-of-season success.

Manager Garry Wilson could barely believe what his side have achieved He said: "I am still in a bit of shock. What we have achieved and the way we have done it is unbelievable. We prepared ourselves for a really tough game but Cambridge were a shadow of their normal selves. I don't know if the occasion got to them but they never caused us any problems.

"For some reason they played one up front in the first half and it didn't harm us in any way. We were superb and it now gives the whole club something to look forward to.

"The only scary thing is that if we win we will be in the Conference. That's the worrying part because we haven't actually thought about it."

Cambridge: Roberts, Pope, Summerscales (Stone 87), Fuff, Langston, J. Simpson, Scott (Gash 65), Fiskin, Sadler, Robinson (R. Simpson 65), Binns. Subs not used: Calton, Spinks. Booked: Pope.

Eastbourne: Hook, Austin, Warner, Playford (Chapman 71), Austin, Simmonds, Atkin, Smart, Crabb, Ramsay (Fazakerley 77), Odubade (Williams 85).

Referee: M. Darlow (Bedford).

Attendance: 1,106.

Man-of-the-match: Matt Smart.