MATT BUSE | "..we have to believe we can beat anyone"

Matt Buse showed on Tuesday night the art of patience and perseverance does pay off.

The midfielder signed from Torquay in the summer amid a fair bit of fanfare, but he has only started one game this season – and that was on the opening day against Woking. He has had to be content with six substitute appearances since and probably wondered when his opportunity was going to come.

But opportunity knocked for him on Tuesday night and he took the chance with both hands, scoring the winning goal and picking up the man of the match award against the leaders with a remarkable performance for someone who hadn't played 90 minutes since April.

"It's been tough," said Buse. "Football can be tough a times as you want to play every week, but you can either sit around and be unhappy or get on with it, train hard and take your opportunity. I feel like I did that tonight."

Didn't he just. He was all-action in the midfield alongside Ashley Charles and Zach Dronfield and showed exactly why he once won the National League Player of the Month award.

"It went ok," he said. "We didn't have as much possession as we have in other games, but we were hard to beat and we got the result. They are a good side, but we believe we can beat anyone on our day. We aren't going to play a better side than that so we have to believe we can beat anyone."

The Stones beat the Mariners thanks to Buse's strike midway through the first half.

"I was on the edge of the box, the ball came back to me, I hit it cleanly and it flew in," said the 24-year-old.

"What a strike from Busey," added manager Stuart Maynard who was delighted with how Buse has responded to a lack of game time. "I always said the team that starts the season isn't always the one that finishes it. Busey has been patient, bided his time, he turns up for training and gives it everything. We all need to be in it together and you saw that tonight."