Wealdstone manager Gordon Bartlett praised his side for “showing pride in the badge” after they ended their winless start to the season with a crucial victory at Whitehawk.

The Stones failed to win their opening nine Conference South matches but upset the odds to land a 1-0 victory at third-placed Whitehawk last night.

Bartlett said: “We didn’t let things worry us and kept focused. We showed a lot of resilience and pride for the badge. I can’t praise them highly enough because Whitehawk are a damned good side.

“It was made all the better by the circumstances. When you have not won a game and you’re away to Whitehawk, who are on a good run, then you fear the worst.

“But our attitude, work ethic, character and commitment was all evident. They showed the passion and desire which has been questioned in the last two games and proved it was there in abundance.”

The Stones produced a superb defensive effort to keep out their opponents and the winner came just before half-time when Luke Pigden fired home a free-kick.

Slade said: “The atmosphere at half-time was better than it has been all season. At the final whistle there was a great deal of satisfaction after all the endeavour and commitment was rewarded.”

It was a totally different story from Saturday when the Stones went down to a 4-2 defeat at Concord Rangers.

A speculative strike from Scott McGleish fired the visitors in front but Jordan Chiedozie equalised before Steve Cawley took advantage of a poor clearance from keeper Jonathan North to make it 2-1.

Gary Ogilvie added a third goal for the Beachboys before Lewis Taaffe scored their fourth. Pigden netted a second but it could not hide a disappointing afternoon for the Stones.

Bartlett, whose side will get the chance to face Concord again a week on Saturday when they host them in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup said, “We set up defensively to keep a clean sheet but we made a couple of individual mistakes and you can’t legislate for that.

“We were feeling sorry for ourselves on Saturday but the same group then responded superbly on Tuesday.

“We needed a lift and spark and we talked about getting back to feeling how we felt looking forward to the season after promotion. Hopefully this performance and result can be the catalyst to spark our season.”

Former Wealdstone player James Gray brings his St Albans City side to Grosvenor Vale this weekend in the league.