Hastings United boss: Successful week has set our standards

The manager said the three competitive games played so far – two in the Cup and one in the league – had set standards he wanted to see maintained to bring about another successful season.

He was speaking after United had seen off step three outfit Chesham in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup thanks to a 6-5 penalty shootout win at the end of a 0-0 draw.

That came three days after a goalless draw at home to Cray Valley PM, in which they had to play the latter stages with ten men after Jack Dixon was red-carded for a late tackle.

Agutter insisted a return of only one goal in the first three games was not a cause for concern and said the levels Hastings had shown against three quality opponents were encouraging.

“Cray Valley will be competing for promotion and when it was 11 versus 11 we were dominant,” he said.

“We were building momentum and pressure and had three or four good chances.

“After going down to ten men we showed brilliant resolve, togetherness and character to make sure we got something from the game.”

Agutter said Dixon – who will miss the next three games – had given the referee a decision to make.

The manager was delighted with the display against division-higher Chesham in the Cup in midweek.

The shootout triumph earned £2,250 in the prize money and a spot in tomorrow’s second qualifying round draw – in which Agutter said he was hoping for a home tie against Eastbourne Borough.

“It was a really good game against Chesham and the atmosphere under the lights was brilliant – credit to our fans for creating that,” he said.

“They had the best of the first quarter of the game but I felt we had the best of the other three.

“All three games we’ve played have been against excellent sides and I’m not worried by not scoring many yet. we’re creating chances and looking strong at the back.”

Hastings go to Faversham on Saturday in search of their first league win.