Charman wants winners at Horsham

Against the title favourites from Kent the Hornets were far from overawed, and after Ryan Marriott’s belting free kick had levelled the scores at the end of the first half the hosts created the chances to take all three points.

Assistant manager Charman, who wasn’t playing because of a groin injury, said: “I thought we were tremendous today. They were fantastic on Saturday when we went down to nine men, and from start to finish it’s the all-round performance today.

“We didn’t get the result we deserved, we were the better side. They will go up as champions because they’re strong and physical, (but) there’s only one team who played football out there and that was us.

“The players have responded to the Crawley Down game (a 4-1 defeat) with two really, really positive performances and a positive result.”

And he added: “We’ve got so much ability in that dressing room. As footballers we’re better then what they’ve (Maidstone) got, but the difference is they’ve got a bit of experience and they’re used to winning.

“This football club over the last couple of years hasn’t been used to winning, and that’s the mentality me and Simon are trying to bring back here.

“We want players who don’t accept losing, it’s all about winning, and that goes from training all the way through.”

In Charman’s absence all the defence stood up strongly against an experience Stones attack. Tom Gilbert, James Brockhurst and Billy Joe King all impressed, though Charman reserved special praise for Matt Simpson along with Horsham’s goal-scorer Marriott.

“I thought Matt Simpson today was absolutely colossal, he was outstanding,” Charman enthused. “It’s his best performance of the year and it’s up there with one of the best performances of the year as well.

“I thought Simmo, and again Ryan Marriott were superb. He’s (Marriott) a crowd-pleaser, but not just that he’s a game-changer. Everyone was superb but I thought them two were the stand-out players.”

And he added: “In my opinion we won today, they were superb.”