Ben Seymour-Shove would love to help his hometown club to promotion.

The 22 year-old wideman is likely to be part of the St Ives Town side which entertains AFC Rushden & Diamonds in the Southern League Division One (Central) play-off final on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm).

Seymour-Shove hit a vital second equaliser as Saints battled to semi-final success at Egham last Tuesday, eventually prevailing 4-2 on penalties following a 2-2 deadlock.

That set up a promotion shoot-out against Diamonds which is expected to attract an attendance of close to 1,000 to ProEdge Westwood Road.

And local lad Seymour-Shove, educated a stone’s throw from the ground at the St Ivo School, hopes it is the home fans celebrating at the final whistle.

He said: “I’ve had two years at the club and it has been great to see it progress in that time.

“A big game like this is what we deserve and we’re getting the rewards for the hard work that we’ve been put in.

“Rick (manager Marheineke) and Cass (number two Jack Cassidy) had an idea of where they wanted to get to when they took over and they’ve done a great job.

“They set us the target of hitting the play-offs this season and we’ve done that. We’ve already won the county cup and going up would be the icing on the cake.”

Seymour-Shove insists results against Diamonds during the regular season will have no influence on the play-off showdown.

The sides drew 2-2 at ProEdge Westwood Road early in the campaign before Saints were beaten 2-0 in the return clash.

Seymour-Shove added: “It’s one-off game of football and it all comes down to what happens on the day. We won’t be looking at the previous results.

“I’m sure we will stick to our usual gameplan of keeping it tight and trying to defend well, but we have been scoring plenty of goals lately and showed that we have plenty to offer going forward.

“All the boys are buzzing and determined to put in another big performance.”

Seymour-Shove is one of two St Ives-based players in the Saints squad. Defender Charlie De’Ath is the other while boss Marheineke also lives in the town.

Seymour-Shove is not the only member of his family to turn out for Saints. His sisters Hannah (20) and Amy (16) are both part of the club’s new ladies side.