TENNIS STAR LAPTHORNE’S NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD

THREE WINS IN THREE MOVES SIDE ONE POINT FROM PLAY-OFFS

IN what was a very difficult week on paper Hayes & Yeading United now sit one place and one point outside the Southern League Premier South play-offs, having bagged all nine points in three games.

After an impressive 5-1 win at Weston-super-Mare, United took on another long journey midweek, returning with a 2-1 victory from Merthyr Tydfil before repeating the result with an injury time winner at The SkyEx on Saturday against Gosport Borough.

Boss Paul Hughes was critical of some parts of his side’s play in the 2-1 win against Gosport in front of 218 fans, but was clearly proud of the character and team spirit being shown to get results in tough games.

“It wasn’t an easy game,” he said. “They’re not an easy side to play against.

“They’ve got a good defensive record and they have physically strong and experienced players who know how to play at this level of the game.

“I was surprised they let us have a free header in the last minute as you don’t usually score goals like that against them but, of course, we’ll take it and it was a good finish from Keano [Robinson] to get us the win.

“I wasn’t happy with our first-half performance. In my opinion we were sluggish all over the pitch and we lacked our usual dynamism. We gifted them their goal which their player took very well, but they didn’t earn the opportunity.

“It was an aimless ball into our box that we misjudged and it resulted in them having a free shot at our goal from 10 yards out.

“It was not good enough from us and we let the lads know that at half time.

“Prior to this game, our away form had been better than our home form.

“We want to make this ground a fortress like last season and I’m hoping this result will kickstart our confidence at home.

“This was a big win. We have to beat the teams around us, especially at home, if we want to do anything special this season.

“The second-half display showed we have a lot of character and belief and I think we deserved the win off the back of that second half. For the second time this week we’ve come from a goal behind against a good team and won the game. That type of desire and will to win you can’t coach and we seem to have that in abundance within the group this season. They all want to win. There is no doubt about that.

“We still have areas to work on and the better teams we play highlight those areas but, as a whole, we are showing we are a tough team to play against at this level of the game. Nobody will relish playing us right now.”

Hughes has further strengthened his squad with the addition of former Bolton Wanderers, MK Dons and Coventry City player Sanmi Odelusi, who made his debut against Gosport.

United face another lengthy journey to Gloucestershire on Saturday to face struggling Yate Town.

Hayes & Yeading boss Paul Hughes