Hollands & Blair boss Scott Porter is doing things his own way and is getting results.

A 3-0 win over Rusthall in the Southern Counties East Premier Division on Tuesday night made it seven successive straight clean sheets and he’s yet to taste defeat since taking charge of the team in November.

Rusthall were also the opponents as Blair progressed to the semi-final of the Kent Senior Trophy on Saturday with a 1-0 home win and the manager’s ambitions of a top-10 finish appear to be well within reach.

Porter doesn’t hide away from his no-nonsense approach.

He said: “The lads have bought into what we want to do and I have always liked to defend the old fashioned way really. I have got three centre-halves there to do it and they have been phenomenal, Joe Kane, George Benner and Rob Gilman.

“No disrespect, our pitch is rubbish, simple as that, we all know that and you can’t play football on it.

“We are nicking things at home but at K Sports on a 3G had it been three or four-nil nobody would have argued (Blair won 1-0).

“We get the ball forward as quickly as we can and we play in the opposition’s half, that is what I have done all the way through my management and it has paid off, the lads who I have got at the club have bought into it.

“We have lost once, in a cup tie (against Rochester) where I didn’t have hardly any of my players there because I was looking at the players who I hadn’t seen before (after taking over). We don’t look into that Rochester result.

“To have gone so many weeks without conceding a goal is phenomenal and everyone has played their part in it and it starts with the boys up top, everyone works their socks off. I have no luxury players, no bad eggs, I have people who run through brick walls and we are getting our rewards.

“People maybe look at me and say ‘they are ugly’ and this and that but you get the ball forward and play in the opposite half. Why would you want to play the ball around five or six times between the centre halves and the goalkeeper and it goes forward the same anyway? With the pitches you have in this league, especially ours, you can’t do that.

“I have always done it, I haven’t changed and I never will change because I have been successful at what I do and the boys know it. You get your rewards, you are not conceding sloppy goals with individual mistakes because players haven’t got time to mess around there.”

Ben Brown scored Blair’s winner on Saturday with 15 minutes left. Rob Gilman’s header came off the woodwork and Brown was there to bundle the ball home. Blair will play Larkfield & New Hythe in the semi-final on Saturday, February 12. The winners will meet Sheppey or Glebe in the final.

Rusthall were back at Star Meadow on Tuesday as Charlie Gill, Joe Kane and Tom Loynes netted in a 3-0 victory.

Next up for Blair is a home match with Glebe.

“Glebe will be a big test for us,” said the manager. “We have played the likes of Erith Town and Kennington and Tunbridge Wells and done well against them, those teams are above us, but Glebe are right up there.

“It will be a good leveller to see how far we have come since I have been there, we are positive and looking forward to building on what we have already done.

“I just keep setting the boys goals every time, we need to get better, we need to score more. At the other end we are not conceding, but we know what we have to do, it is coming on nicely.”