Gary Brabin hailed his players after seeing the U's get the new campaign off to the perfect start with a 1-0 win at Northwich Victoria.
With six players making their U's bows during the course of the game, debutant Felino Jardim underlined the promise he showed in pre-season by capping a good move and Andy Parkinson cross with an excellent finish in the 28th minute.
"It was nice to start with a win and everything I've wanted from the lads in pre-season," said Brabin afterwards.
"Our preparation wasn't ideal with that game getting called off last week, but we tried to look positive and the lads were excellent, and the most pleasing thing for me was keeping a clean sheet. Northwich threw everything at us near the end and it was four against four, but we had two of arguably the best centre-halves that have played in this league in the last five years.
"Phil Bolland hasn't played too many pre-season games or done much pre-season training and Hats has been injured and missed a fair bit, but I thought Hats was by far the best player on the pitch today - he was absolutely brilliant.
"The lads have worked well together in pre-season and there's a great team atmosphere and I think that really helps. The whole team was excellent."
On the winning goal by Jardim, who signed a one year contract with United on Thursday (article), Brabin enthused, "They were wary of him and the only disappointing thing was it took nearly an hour before the referee realised he was getting pinpointed for harsh treatment and booked someone, but he was excellent and I'm made up for him scoring the winner."
The boss also paid tribute to the travelling fans who turned up the volume as United came under increasing pressure from the home side: "They were awesome and I think it does help near the end when Northwich had everything to go for. They were the home team and I think the deafening roar of our fans disheartened them a little bit, and it definitely drove us on for the last 20 minutes or so."
Ending in typically upbeat fashion, when told that the last two times United have won on the opening day (most recently last season) they have finished second in the league, Brabin responded instantly, "I don't know whether that's a good omen or a bad omen - I want to finish first!"
The U's are next in action at home to Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday (7.45pm) and again at home to Barrow on Saturday 16th (3pm).
[Match report] [Fixture list] [League table]
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