Colney Heath's rebuild under new manager Matt Day is coming along nicely - but victory over Welwyn Garden City in their first competitive fixture left the gaffer ecstatic.

They won 1-0 against the Citizens in the Herts Charity Shield, Pijus Montvydas scoring in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the game at the Recreation Ground.

It continued the remarkable statistic of the Magpies being unbeaten in the competition for six years, winners in 2018 and then 2019, the last time the competition was held.

But it was the manner of the performance after a busy summer that put the biggest smile of the boss's face.

Day said: "Going into that last minute I was thinking it was going to penalties but hoping we'd get one last chance. 

"But as the second-half was going on, we were getting stronger and we had a couple that flashed across the box that the guys just couldn't get on the end of. 

"It's a great ball across and the composure from the lad. He’s taken a couple of touches, set it and buried it in the bottom corner. 

"We've needed a little bit of luck. We haven't scored in a couple of games this pre-season where I felt we should have but we’ve got the rub of the green here so I’m delighted with that."

The win made a mockery of the division gap between the two but Day admitted that it took a solid team effort to get the result.

He said: "The boys had to work really hard in that first half because of how well they were set-up. They seemed to have an extra man in the middle of the park. 

"It was about keeping the discipline, keeping our shape and to not be too exposed and so we weren’t concentrating on creating much in the final third. 

"But, going down the hill in that second half gave us a little bit of momentum and there were some outstanding performances throughout.  

"We've got a young team and a brand new squad and to pull out a performance like that against Welwyn, I couldn't ask for any more in our first competitive game."

The win was built on a fabulous defensive performance, with the new look back three made in equal parts of experience and youth.

Day said: "We've brought in Sam Denham and although he's 20 years old, he's a rock, he's athletic. 

"Jamie Willing, I had him at Sandridge Rovers and that kid, he's just been phenomenal for me and he's just slotted in at this level. He looks like he's been playing it all his career. 

"And then you’ve got [Sam Doolan], an absolute tank of a bloke, and Connor [Sansom] behind. 

"It looked like they had the better of their frontline and I thought we held out well."

The next part is to keep building ahead of the start of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division on August 1, with the Magpies hosting Baldock Town.

And Day is happy with the way the pieces are falling into place.

The boss said: "Our first friendly against Amersham was with quite a young squad but the last three or four games, we've really started piecing together the players that we want in the squad moving forward. 

"We're still missing a couple, Jack Woods and Finbar King and they are two big players for us, but this is another step forward for the team. 

"They've raised the bar again and now it's about how high we can raise that bar. 

"It puts us in good stead but we won't rest on our laurels. We'll try to keep improving."