Allinson: Our best display so far
Lee Allinson hailed his Hemel Hempstead Town side’s performance as they ran out 1-0 winners at Maidstone United on Saturday.
Another spectacular goal from Millar Matthews-Lewis right on the stroke of half-time was enough to seal the points for Hemel who ended the weekend sixth in National League South.
And Allinson told the club’s media afterwards that he was thrilled with the display.
He said: “I think when you’ve got so many key players missing it’s a huge void to fill and we only had four outfield players on the bench, but we spoke long and hard on Thursday because last Saturday wasn’t acceptable.
"Some people said they might feel the pressure but pressure is putting food on your table for your kids, or now knowing where your next bill payment is coming from, so this isn’t pressure.
“This has got to be enjoyed because I feel we’re punching well above our weight.
"We’ve come here today in front of 2,000 people, the chips are down and we’ve put in an unbelievable shift.
"It wasn't pretty but there's lots of games this season it won't be pretty, but to dig in like that and have the alamo thrown at us and defend how we’ve defended, that’s an unbelievable performance.
"From Michael Johnson in goal all the way through to Millar up front and the subs coming on, they were superb.”
Matthews-Lewis scored a bicycle kick similar to the one he scored at Dover recently, with Allinson adding: “The kid’s got everything and I’m positive there’s interest from the Football League and I really hope that sooner or later he makes that transition because he’s an exceptional talent, although he has to keep learning because he was poor last week and we spoke about that in training.
"I believe he can go all the way, he’s that good.”
Hemel were due to visit Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday but the match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
It means Hemel return to action this weekend with a home game against Dover Athletic, before heading to Ebbsfleet United next Tuesday night.