Fleet boss Daryl McMahon saw his side equal a club record victory in the FA Cup – which occurred in the 1995/96 season when we reached Round Three – and believes his side can get even better as the campaign progresses.
“I think over the last five or six performances we’ve got better every game,” McMahon told BBC Radio Kent’s Matt Cole, “and I hope we can still do that. We’re young, we’ve got players who really can kick on aligned with some experienced players who are coming back and getting fit again. We had Phillips and Winfield back today and we’re missing Clark, Rance and Shields who are three very good players as well. Bubb getting his first goal and he’s not had a lot of minutes so there’s lot of positives and I think we can get better.”
McMahon felt Fleet’s superiority at 2-0 up would have carried them over the line regardless of the sending-off incident which saw Havant & Waterlooville reduced to 10 men. “At 2-0 I thought we were well in control of the game,” he said, “and even at 2-0 I think we would have had the players to pick them off, especially with the form we were in today.
“We were terrific, we were professional. We didn’t disrespect Havant in the sense of trying to be flash. We kept the ball moving and scored our goals. It showed a maturity that we probably didn’t have last year that I think we have now.
“We’ve got pace and we’ve got players that can play the ball forward quickly, that see people moving quickly. The Powells, Deerings… they normally take two touches and it normally goes forward so aligned with the pace is dangerous.”
Fleet’s next match on Tuesday night sees them take on Sheppey United in the Kent Senior Cup when McMahon is expected to give 90 minutes to several players who have not featured much of late – as well as a potential cameo from the manager himself!
Click below to listen to full interview.
https://soundcloud.com/eufcofficial/daryl-mcmahon-havantw-fa-cup
