DAGGERS Centre of Excellence manager Warren Hackett hailed his youngsters after their nail-biting victory against Stevenage Borough.

DAGGERS Centre of Excellence manager Warren Hackett hailed his youngsters after their nail-biting victory against Stevenage Borough.

Right-back Adam Gemeli (pictured) was sent off in the final minute of normal time, but the 10 men held in extra time before winning on penalties.

“It was a fantastic performance in the respect that we came back from the position we were in,” he said.

“It was very disappointing to concede two goals from being 2-0 up. There was a bit of naivety and maybe a bit of stage fright for the boys tonight, but it’s their first time at the ground this season and ultimately I’ll take the result.

“We’re through to the next round, let’s look at it in the positive.”

Hackett was also full of praise for goalkeeper Danny Sambridge, who scored the decisive penalty in the penalty shoot-out.

“We needed a big game player today and I would say that was him,” said the boss.

“He said he wanted to take a penalty after being very disappointed that he conceded a penalty at the end and I thought it was a fantastic performance from him.”

Hackett added: “I understand we’ve made history tonight, which is great, but if we are going to progress then we do need to perform better than that.

“I think hopefully in our next home game we’ll give a true reflection of how good we can be.”