Heanor Town showing signs of a '˜good side' after fifth straight win

The Lions sit second in the Midlands Football League Premier Division on goal difference after a fifth straight win of the 2017/18 campaign on Saturday.

A 2-1 victory over Long Eaton United, positioned towards the foot of the table, has Heanor level on points with early pacesetters Coleshill Town at the top.

And Hamilton was pleased with what he was seeing from the Lions squad, whose current form has taken many by surprise, including the assistant manager.

He said: “What’s really pleasing for us was the belief, the momentum and the confidence that is building in the squad, which is great.

“That is still a very young side and an inexperienced side but what they are doing at the moment is they are teaching us stuff.

“I would never have dreamed that we would be in this position at this moment in time but they are worthy of it.

“They are finding ways to win games. We went 2-1 down against Rugby and today (against Long Eaton), we were under pressure at times, but they found a way through.”

And added: “That’s signs of good players. All the credit goes to them. We get a chance before the game and at half time to speak to them but they are the ones that have to put it out there on the field.

“They’ve done that. We’re satisfied with the win. We just want three points. We’re very pleased with what they have put out today and how they’ve gone about winning a game of football.”

The Lions have taken nine points from three games in the space of seven days but manager Glen Clarence said it had taken it out of his players.

The win over Long Eaton followed a 3-2 win at home to Rugby Town last Tuesday and a 3-2 away win at Shepshed Dynamo on Saturday.

“I don’t think we played badly,” said Clarence of their latest victory. “We looked tired understandably because it’s 30 degrees and we played two days ago. Credit has to go to Long Eaton.

“They caused us problems first half and we couldn’t get through. On other days against other oppositions we might have come in at half time two down.

“At half time we had a look at what we could do to counteract what was causing us problems and see what we could do with our game and it worked.

“We didn’t tear them apart largely because they played really well in the first half.”

A third consecutive away day awaits on Saturday for the Lions when they travel to take on a AFC Wulfrunians side who lost 2-0 to the leaders Coleshill on Monday.

“Anyone can beat anyone in this league,” added Clarence. “You’ve got to be at it, whoever you play against.”