TOM Broadbent made his first Spitfires appearance after recovering from injury over the summer and joked he was so tired he “didn’t even go over and celebrate, I took the five minutes rest.”

The former Swindon centre-back was thrown in the deep end after over a month on the injury table, only playing fifteen minutes or so during the pre-season campaign, to making the full 90’ at Wealdstone.

But he was imperious at the back and was nothing short of crucial to limit the hosts to just one or two chances throughout – although the effort took it right out of him, not even an 89th minute winner from Ben House could get him running down the other end.

Asked to describe the feeling when the half-volley went in, Broadbent said: “Relief. I think you’ll have seen I didn’t even go other and celebrate with him.

“I thought I’d take the five minutes rest while they went over there. The fans were really good, they turned out in numbers today, quite a long drive so they were excellent and kept us going.

“I’m knackered. But no, buzzing with the win – obviously I’m gutted as I’d much prefer it be a 1-0 win, but we got the three points and that’s the most important thing.

“Leggy obviously, I remember looking at the clock and about three minutes wrong. But I’ll get the recovery right and then push on Saturday in the FA Cup.”

On how it felt to get back out there, he added: “It’s all I want to do, the boys were great today, we were sat in for a lot of it and I think we defended well, so it was a bit of a blow when we conceded but we got the three points.”