MANAGER Mark McLean wants his Halstead Town team to build on the "unbelievably good performance" they put in at Coggeshall United last weekend.

McLean was delighted to get the reaction that he expected from his players as they bounced straight back to form after their 3-0 defeat by Frenford seven days earlier to keep the pressure on in the Thurlow Nunn League division one south promotion race.

The Humbugs boss had been frustrated by his team's display against Frenford, so was pleased to get a strong response.

His only disappointment was that they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Coggeshall and he is now looking for his players to go further when they head to Holland FC on Saturday.

McLean said: "The performance at Coggeshall left me delighted because I wanted to see a reaction after the Frenford game.

"That was not a true reflection of the team we are and we had a clear discussion about it afterwards.

"I said it was one that I never expected to see again and the players wanted to right the wrongs of that.

"You could see that desire at Coggeshall and the only disappointment was that we didn't get all three points.

"It was an unbelievably good performance and a really harsh result on us.

"To go there and get a point, though, isn't bad as Coggeshall are a team who will be up there at the end of the season.

"It was a good reaction to Frenford and I'm looking for more of the same this week at Holland.

"If there is something that could have been better, it would have been our finishing because we should have won the game at Cogegshall.

"Hopefully we'll put that right this week and we will if we take our chances, because we are creating a lot of them.

"This is quite a defining couple of weeks for us with two very tough trips to two strong venues and if we can come out of it with something to show from both then we'll be in a good place."

McLean said he expected Jordan Pavett, Mark Dallinger and Callum Vincent to all be back for the trip to Holland after the trio were all unavailable at Coggeshall United last weekend.

The trip to Holland will give Halstead a chance to avenge a 4-0 defeat they suffered at the same team's hands in a Thurlow Nunn League Cup tie last month, however, McLean insists that previous result was not a true reflection and was one that his players wouldn't be dwelling on.

He added: "When we faced them in the League Cup, it was a game that allowed me to get minutes into the legs of players that needed them.

"There were players in the team that evening who probably weren't ready for it, but we had to get them action to get them prepared for games to come.

"I wouldn't say we were understrength that night, but there were players in our team who were not physically ready and we still had some great periods.

"However, we'll have to be prepared for it this time as Holland have some great players on board this year.

"We've obviously had a chance to see them first hand, but this game is more important and we need to be at the races."