MARTIN Lowes praised the attitude of his players after Hexham reached the summit of Northern Alliance Division One.

The manager said the side can go into this Saturday’s home match against Stobswood Welfare, in the Northumberland FA Minor Cup, with confidence.

But he insisted his team must maintain the high standards which have been key to their impressive start to the new campaign.

“Nothing is a given at this level,” he said. “All of the teams we play against have quality and I am pleased at the way our lads have gone about our matches so far. They have got stuck in, and got the points on the board. You get rewarded for doing the right things.”

Hexham have excelled despite the absence of key players, including Dylan Mabunu due to holiday, in the past two matches.

Lowes added: “It’s easy for any manager to say they want to score more goals and concede less. But we have the ability to put away more chances, and also to keep clean sheets. Saturday is a challenge which we will be up for. Hopefully, we’ll be joined by another good crowd at Wentworth.”