MANAGER Mark McLean believes Halstead Town fans are still to see the best of their inspirational skipper Lewis Cunliffe as he reflected on his captain’s 250th appearance for the club this week.

Tuesday’s 4-1 Thurlow Nunn League division one win at local rivals Cornard United marked another milestone in an incredible career for the Humbugs stalwart, but McLean feels Cunliffe is still to reach his prime and is looking forward to seeing him develop further as a player in coming seasons.

He said: “Lewis is still in his mid 20s and is already an outstanding player for us.

“He had a difficult first three to four months this season as he picked up an injury in pre-season and had to play through it, but the fact he did shows the type of character he is.

“We respect his character and he has found his level since shaking off the injury; his performances have been outstanding and it really showed how we missed him when he wasn’t available for the game against Needham Market last weekend (that Halstead lost 2-1).

“I still see improvements coming from him, though, as our captain.

“He has a strong mind, but he needs to manage players out on the pitch and I see him getting much better at that. There is much more to come from him and as he hits his late 20s - and I speak from my own experience as a player here - he’ll become a different player and that’s when he will see the real fruits of his ability.”

Cunliffe returned after missing the home defeat by Needham Market Reserves for the local derby win at Cornard in midweek in a result that extended an impressive run of away games.

Halstead have now claimed 16 points from their last six games on the road and that should stand them in good stead for a tough end to the season.

Tomorrow’s trip to second-placed Whitton United kick-starts a run of four back-to-back away games to close the campaign - followed by a journey to Norwich United Reserves on Wednesday, one to Swaffham on May 5 and then at Debenham LC on May 7.

It may be an intimidating run to some, but with the away form his team have had, McLean isn’t fazed by the run-in and the Humbugs boss insists that none of the remaining four games will be dead rubbers for his team.

McLean said new division one champions Woodbridge Town have shown this year the importance of having a strong finish to a campaign as the Woodpeckers have built on the momentum they gained in their closing spell to the 2016/17 season.

The Halstead boss added: “There are never any dead rubbers and Woodbridge are proof of that.

“They had some nice momentum at the end of last year and they picked up the baton again this season and have got their rewards.

“We need to make sure we have a strong finish.”

McLean said Chris Harris and Joe Morris may be unavailable for the trip to Whitton, while Marcus Warren could miss the end of the season due to a back injury.

Halstead will head to Whitton in buoyant mood, though, after their derby win at Cornard saw them bounce back from the disappointment of a 2-1 loss against lowly Needham Market.

McLean said: “I think those two games define my season.

“We’d had a couple of really competitive weeks against good sides, but we unravelled ourselves against Needham Market.

“No disrespect to them, but it was all our own undoing.

“We played them off the park early on, but they scored, we lost our way and gave ourselves too much to do.

“We were missing three key players - Chris Harris, Lewis Cunliffe and Jack Schelvis - from the spine of the team, but we had more than enough to have got something and it was disappointing that it was all our own doing.

“The players need to trust themselves more and it was important that we got a reaction at Cornard so I was pleased as I felt we were always on top.”