DUANE Darby hailed his Rovers mean machine after a solid defensive display paved the way for one of their best results of the season.
Away days won't get much better than this for Darby and his players.
While news of Havant and Waterlooville's heroics at Anfield filtered around Vauxhall Road, the Greens were busy masterminding a minor upset of their own against a side who blitzed them at the Victoria Ground back in September.
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On that occasion the Tudors' attacking force coupled with some slick movement up front was too hot for Rovers to handle.
But on Saturday the Greens stood tall.
Dogged in defence and quick on the counter-attack, they appear to have found the perfect formula for picking up points on the road.
They suffered a stroke of luck early on when an injury to Hemel keeper Ian Brown forced key forward Paul Edgeworth to take up duties in between the sticks.
Even so, Darby was heartened to see his side's preparation pay-off.
Rovers' caretaker manager had concerns over their ability to defend from dead-ball situations and he put the squad through a rigorous training routine in an attempt to tighten the ship.
He said: "We were training until late on Thursday night working on set-pieces against, because with the last couple of games I have not been too happy with that situation.
"We have worked a long time on the training pitch to get that right and I think that showed in today's (Saturday's) performance.
"At the back and with the set-pieces they knew where they were and what they were doing, and all credit to them.
"You have got to weather the storm and the thing that pleased me most was the clean sheet."
Weathering the storm was exactly what Rovers did, largely thanks to in-form goalkeeper Karl Lewis.
Lewis made a string of saves, including an acrobatic dive to tip Enoch Boateng's 25-yard effort over the bar, and he later denied Steve Jackman who found space to meet Matthew Gearing's corner.
Skipper Gary Knight showed tenacity at centre-back and he came to Rovers' rescue in the first-half, heading another Jackman effort off the line.
But while Lewis, Knight and co thwarted Hemel at the back, new-boy Chris Cornes sparkled at the other end of the field.
By his own admission the former Wolves striker has plenty of work to do on his conditioning, but for now he is more than capable of getting by on ability alone.
Cornes announced his arrival with a precise through ball to set Sam Alsop up for Rovers' 23rd minute opener.
Collecting midway in the home side's half, he opened his stance and lofted an inch-perfect pass beyond the back line.
Hemel appealed for offside but Alsop kept his composure and slipped his shot neatly passed Edgeworth.
On the hour mark Cornes turned from provider to predator to effectively close out the game.
Dave Bridgwater's corner cleared the flapping Edgeworth, and Cornes scrambled the ball over the line among a crowd of players.
Hemel became deflated and the game was Rovers' to throw away.
They saw out the final 30 minutes for a result which has completed a mentality shift in terms of what they can achieve this season.
On paper this result doesn't seem so remarkable, as Hemel Hempstead had only won three times on home soil before Saturday.
Nevertheless, the 3-0 beating inflicted by the Tudors in the reverse fixture would have been enough to make most teams turn up to Vauxhall Road erring on the side of caution.
Instead Rovers were fearless and well-organised, while being clinical enough when the opportunity arose to attack.
For that reason they are suddenly looking towards the top end of the table rather than the bottom.
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