NEIL HOWARTH hailed his players as 'outstanding' in their 2-0 victory over Eastbourne Borough on Saturday.

It was the club's second win of what's been a very difficult 2009 thus far, with Matthew Barnes-Homer grabbing a brace to secure the points.

Speaking after the game, Assistant boss Howarth praised the team to a man, and waxed lyrical on the attacking outlets at his disposal.

"I thought they were outstanding from start to finish - you couldn't fault any one of them," he said.

"There were very few mistakes and each individual performance was outstanding.

"We had Knightsy just off Matthew Barnes-Homer which was causing them a few problems.

"And we had David McDermott with his energy and getting into little pockets of space where defenders don't want to mark - it was difficult for them to stop us trying to play our football."

Howarth went on to admit that a victory in midweek at Woking is of paramount importance if today's win is to mean anything.

But the outlook is now much cheerier - perhaps thanks to an enforced break with Wrexham and Stevenage's FA Trophy commitments ruling out scheduled league games against Harriers.

He went on: "We do [need to win] - there's no hiding that fact.

"We were on a downer two weeks ago and perhaps not having to play Stevenage and Wrexham gave us a chance to re-group and decide what we want this season.

"We had a full week where training was good and perhaps we'll look back at the end of the season at those games being called off as a blessing."

And there were words of praise for match-winner Barnes-Homer.

Howarth added: "He's a big handful - he's quick and he's strong and he scores goals.

"He has few a weaknesses he needs to work on but he's a good, honest lad and he's a pleasure to be around the club with."