Relief all-round as Jones reflects on Hemel Hempstead Town's first home win

Mark Jones admitted there was relief all-round for Hemel Hempstead Town as they finally got things right at Vauxhall Road.

A long-awaited first home win of the season arrived last Saturday as the Tudors claimed a 3-1 success over Bath City in the Vanarama National League South.

Gus Scott-Morriss gave Hemel the lead, only for his goal to be cancelled out by the visitors before half-time.

However, Charlee Hughes - who scored for the third game in a row - and Alex Addai were on target after the break to give Jones his first league win on home soil.

The manager was understandably delighted and he believes the Tudors squad is only getting stronger with there now being plenty of “competition for places”

“We have spoken a lot about the home form and how poor it’s been so to finally win a game at home did feel good,” manager Jones said.

“The relief was there for everyone to see for all the players and supporters.

“It was a decent home win and we deserved it as well. We played pretty well and it was nice to just get that victory.

“It keeps the ball rolling for us. I feel we have been pretty consistent over the past three months.

“We have only lost four out of 15 league games and, for a team that was struggling when I took over, that isn’t bad.

“I know it sounds a bit boring but we just have to keep taking it game-by-game and keep working hard. I have been pleased with their work ethic, the players deserve a lot of credit for that.

“Now we have to move on to the next game.

“I think we can gain a bit of confidence from last Saturday and the squad is looking a lot stronger.

“The players can see there is competition for place and they know they have to be on their game because we have a few more options within the squad.”

There have been few issues with Hemel’s away form since Jones arrived as manager and they will now be hoping to maintain that when they head to Tonbridge Angels on Saturday.

Tonbridge have struggled in the league of late but Jones isn’t fooled by that, especially after this weekend’s hosts enjoyed a penalty shoot-out success against National League side King’s Lynn in the Buildbase FA Trophy last weekend.

“We are flying away from home at the moment so hopefully we can go into the game with a bit of confidence and try to get another three points on the board,” Jones added.

“Tonbridge had a good result in the FA Trophy on Saturday when they beat King’s Lynn on penalties.

“We are certainly expecting a tough game down there. We’re not, for one second, expecting it to be an easy game.

“We have to make sure we put in another good performance and see where it takes us.”