Lewes manager Hugo Langton has said that captain James Hammond has answered any questions marks he had over him as a leader.

The Rooks captain was the star of the show on Wednesday, scoring a free kick from 30 yards out to put them ahead in their 2-1 win over Haringey Borough at the Dripping Pan.

Hammond has been with the club since November 2015 after signing from Peacehaven.

He has gone on to become a mainstay in the midfielder and was second in the club’s top goalscorer last season with 11 goals.

The 22-year-old signed a new deal in June 2019 signed a new one-year deal and was given the captain’s armband by manager at the time Darren Freeman.

However, Langton did admit he did have concerns over Hammond as a captain.

He said: “When I came to the club he was already the captain, but I had a few question marks about whether he was one.

“He was one of the first people I spoke to and after our first conversation I knew he was going to be the captain.

“His performance over the last four or five games have been excellent, he has led by example and when you need a moment of quality he can step up and provide that, which he showed last night.”

Hammond scored the goal of the season for the Rooks last campaign at Worthing with a strike from the halfway line.

Langton admits for him that Hammond’s strike will be the goal of the season.

He said: “For me that is the goal of the season.

“If Cristiano Ronaldo had scored that goal it would be played on loop for the whole day.”

Langton felt his first win since taking charge of the club had been a long time coming.

He said: “It’s been coming if I’m being honest now.

“I have been very open in saying the last four or five games we have not got what we deserved, but last night (Wednesday) we did.

“I am especially delighted for the boys.”

Lewes travel to promotion-chasing Hornchurch, who are eight points behind the leaders Worthing and Langton has called on his side to be defensively solid.

He said: “We played them in my first game in charge.

“They are strong and are very direct.

“One of the reasons they are up there is they are very good at what they do, they pump balls into the box, which meant we had to be on our game defensively and will need to be again on Saturday.

“We have made some changes since then and we are much of a threat going forward, but it will be a tough game.”

Billy Medlock, Gary Noel and Jardel Adeyinka will miss the game for the Rooks.