CHIPSTEAD manager John Hamsher has hailed the impact of new signing Laurent Hamici after the striker scored a hat-trick on his debut.
Hamici, who signed for the Chips from Tooting & Mitcham this week, was thrown straight in against Walton Casuals on Tuesday night, scoring a hat-trick in a vital 4-1 win for Hamsher's men.
And after a disappointing performance in a 2-1 defeat against Faversham on Saturday, Hamsher was pleased to see his players respond in a positive fashion.
"We managed to get two players in after Saturday and I was over the moon with Laurent, who had three chances and scored three goals.
"I had been tracking him for a while and knew he would add a bit of quality to the side as he is a goalscorer.
"He proved that on Tuesday and it was an important win for us - we needed that."
Hamsher was angry after Saturday's debacle at home, adding that his players needed to take a look at themselves after only producing one shot against the high flyers from Kent.
Duane Antonio did give the Chips the lead at High Road with a 26th-minute penalty - just five minutes after Martin Grant had saved a Faversham spot kick at the other end.
But that was as good as it got, with Faversham dominating the game and responding with two goals from David Botterill to take home all three points.
And Hamsher said his side, who had Tom Jelley sent off late on, were simply not good enough.
He said: "When you have one shot in the whole game how can you expect to win games? You're not, it's as simple as that.
"Some of those boys have got to take a look at themselves and turn up and prepare themselves for a football game properly because that wasn't good enough."
It was, however, a much-improved performance on Tuesday, with Chipstead running out worthy winners and moving up to 14th in the process.
A Matt York own goal set the Chips on their way, before Hamici stole the show with a debut hat-trick to condemn Casuals to their second defeat in four days, each of which saw them concede four goals.
But while Hamsher was full of praise for his side, he said he wanted them to repeat the performance again on Saturday when Burgess Hill visit High Road.
He said: "The boys had a good attitude and to be honest after the opening goal, there was only going to be one winner.
"Football is a funny game though, but we have to carry on that form now and take it into Saturday."
