Louth Town heroes clinch league and cup double inside four days

Carl Martin's men will now compete in Northern Counties East League Division One after two victories over rivals Wyberton in four days saw Louth lift the Supplementary Cup before taking the Lincolnshire League title too.

“We are ready to go now. It's really exciting and we have put Louth Town back on the footballing map,” said Martin.

“A return to Step 6 football was what we all wanted as a club. The chairman, Eddie Clarke, has backed us and worked really hard to make sure the ground was up to standard. I am really pleased for the town as the club is now back where it belongs.

“It was 2015 we last played at Step 6 and we didn't even have a senior team five years ago. So to turn it round in five years is credit to all the players, the committee members and especially the chairman.

“We will probably bring one or two new faces in but these boys have achieved Step 6 football and I think they deserve a crack at it. It will be down to them. But I can't see any reason why a lot of them can't step up to that level.”

In the Supplementary Cup final at Horncastle Jordan Smith netted on 26 and 53 minutes to put the White Wolves in command. But they were made to sweat after Wyberton pulled a goal back with a minutes to go.

Then on Saturday Luke Raynor and Bailey Wright had Louth 2-0 up before Wyberton again pulled one back only to see Bradley Coulam seal the title with the sweetest of overhead kicks.

“We said a long time ago the title race would go down to the wire and it went to the last couple of games,” said Martin. “To be fair to the lads they got us over the line in the end and we have been really, really good this season.

“Going 2-0 up in the cup final was a bit of a cushion for us. But they got back into it and fair play to Wyberton, they pushed us all the way and our keeper had to pull off a couple of decent saves towards the end.

“But over the game on chances created I thought we just about deserved to edge it.

“It was quick turnaround for the league meeting after a long hard season. They chucked the kitchen sink at us second half, which we knew they would. But we defended superbly and took our chances when they came.”​​​​