Captain Stuart Tuck praised Eastbourne Borough's character after scoring a wonder goal to help send his side through to the Conference south play-off final.

Borough came from 2-1 down at half-time to beat Thurrock at Ship Lane and will now face Cambridge City away on Saturday.

Tuck fired home from 30 yards in the second half to put Borough 3-2 up following goals from Ben Austin and Andy Atkin, then Scott Ramsay put the game beyond doubt.

The former Albion fullback said: "I haven't scored many goals like that. If you hit a hundred of them in a lifetime only two or three would go in. Sometimes you get fairytales when one goes in and luckily it happened to be just when we needed it.

"We conceded two goals just before half-time which would have killed off a lot of teams but we had enough character to come back.

"This game is all about character and we showed we have an abundance of it."

Manager Garry Wilson said: "It was a fantastic effort by all the players. Our heads were wobbling a bit at half-time but we did brilliantly to hold our nerve in the second half.

"Tucky's goal was a great strike. We were right behind it and saw it swerve away from the keeper just at the last minute."

Borough would have been dead and buried before Austin struck in the 11th minute had it not been for a string of brilliant saves by goalkeeper Lee Hook.

He first clawed a close range header by Bertie Brayley off the line after two minutes and then made a solid save from a volley by the same player moments later.

Hook made a double stop on nine minutes when he got down low to parry a free-kick by Kris Lee before blocking Adam Parker's close range follow-up from point blank range.

Fullback Austin punished Thurrock in only Borough's second attack when he latched on to a long throw by Danny Simmonds and smashed home a first-time left-foot drive from the edge of the box.

Borough were thankful for Hook again on 17 minutes when he spectacularly tipped over a header by Parker.

However, it was a mistake by the Borough custodian which allowed Thurrock to equalise from a penalty four minutes before half-time.

Lee was sent clear on goal by a hopeful ball over the top by Glenn Poole and Hook brought down the striker.

Hook escaped with just a booking, although he arguably should have been sent off, and Poole sent him the wrong way from the spot.

It got worse for Borough on the stroke of the interval when Thurrock captain Jimmy McFarlane rose above a static defence to slam in a header from Poole's corner.

Atkin put Borough level with a header on 59 minutes after a superb jinking run by Yemi Odubade.

Tuck produced his moment of magic six minutes later after receiving the ball 30 yards from goal. There seemed little danger at first as he dallied for a second looking for a team-mate to pass to before unleashing a left-foot pile-driver which arrowed into the top corner.

Ramsay sealed the win in the last minute with a cool side-foot finish after Odubade had beaten McFarlane for pace and squared across goal.

Thurrock: Woodman; Collis, Davidson (Buffong, 80), McFarlane, Goodfellow, Goddard, Heffer, Parker (Hodges, 68), Brayley, Poole, Lee (Shipp, 63). Subs not used: McMahon, Fletcher.

Eastbourne Borough: Hook; Warner, Tuck, Smart, Playford (Chapman, 70), Austin, Odubade (Fazakerley, 91), Crabb (Smith, 90), Ramsay, Simmonds, Atkin.

Subs not used: Williams, Lightwood.

Referee: G Scott.

Attendance: 642.

Man-of-the-match: Lee Hook.