McKay praises Puritans players after win

It was the Puritans’ first game since the midweek departure of Mark Jones (see page 39) and saw them pick up their first win in seven league attempts.

United were back in action again on Tuesday night at home to Darlington in a match played after this week’s Guardian had gone to press, but prior to that game they were four points clear of the relegation zone thanks to Saturday’s win.

And speaking to Puritans Radio after the victory, McKay was pleased to have stopped the rot.

He said: “I first want to put on record what a tough job it was for Mark Jones – he brought me to the club and I’ll forever be grateful for that and at no point did that dressing room ever stop running for him.

"When he left, we were put into the situation where we were asked to take the team given we have existing relationships with these boys and we were never going to let the players down, just like they haven’t let me down.

"Thursday was a whirlwind day but we had to prepare well for Scarborough which we did, and I think that came into fruition today in terms of what you’ve seen on the pitch.

"I thought the boys were tremendous. It’s so hard to name an individual because all over the park we were absolutely fantastic.

"Don’t get me wrong, we rode our luck a bit in the second-half, but with the way we put our bodies on the line and with the amount of effort the boys put in, I felt we deserved that luck and actually, Jack hasn’t had to make many saves and although we cleared one off the line, it’s not like they’ve peppered us even though they had more possession in our final third. We stood up to it.”

Following Tuesday’s Darlington clash, Banbury are at Chester FC on Saturday.​