Brett Donnelly was full of praise for his young forward Codi Lee-Spavins after his hat-trick helped Stotfold to victory over Letchworth Eagles on day one of the new Spartan South Midlands League Division One season.

Donnelly, taking charge of the Eagles for the first time in a competitive fixture, saw his team come from behind to win 4-1, Joe Ryan getting the other goal, and he now wants the rest of his strike force to follow Lee-Spavins' lead.

The Stotfold boss said: "The balls that bounce around the box are a gimme. They are two yards out and a tap in.

"If you stand in and around the box it will come to you, all you need to do is tap them in. You can get 15 or 20 goals that way.

"Codi is always sniffing around the back stick and they were good finishes.

"Kade Bagge was superb in that second half and all he needed was a goal but he was always in there too early."

"The other lads need to learn to give themselves a yard."

It wasn't until 17 minutes from time that Stotfold got their noses in front after Lee-Spavins' opener had cancelled out a Mark Summers' strike before half-time.

And while Donnelly was happy with the result and the three points, he admits there is still work to do.

"Codi was the only bright spot for us in the first half," he said. "He worked hard and everything we asked of him, he did it.

"I wasn't overly impressed with the first half. I don’t know if that’s me being blinkered but we went 3-5-2 and it didn’t work.

"We changed the shape but the occasion seemed to get to a few of them.

"We had a chat at half-time and politely told them what to do and the second half was so much better.

"I don’t think anyone can go away and say we didn’t deserve to get four.


"A good spell in the first 10 minutes of the second half set us up and we thought they were they there for the taking.

"The players now know that the ideas we are telling them need to be taken on board.

"I just need my strikers to score or it would have been the perfect second half."