Martin Allen wants the clean-sheet in Saturday's friendly at Dartford to be the first of many this season.

He felt the shut-out and the late winner were a "double bonus" for his side in the victory at Princes Park, a game in which he used two different line-ups in the game.

Allen (pictured) said: "I thought the players looked very tired in the first half, but they did really have a hard session on Friday.

"It’s all part of our training, so we can’t be too disappointed in it, we knew it was going to be like that.

"We knew they were always going to play for an hour, and they all really stepped up after half-time, which I thought was quite encouraging, because I don’t think they did great in the first 45 minutes, but there are probably reasons for that

"We played the last 30 minutes with a less experienced side, who did the same training as the others.

"It was different system, but we made a lot more passes, and looked more tenacious.

"It was much better on the eye, and the fact that we actually scored a goal to win the game away from home with a clean-sheet – and let’s hope we are saying that over the next 11 months – was a double bonus."

Picture: Barry Goodwin