The Red Devils beat Lincoln 18-17 at Denton Park on Saturday, their first win of the season and their first over Lincoln in 24 years.
It was just the third time the team had won since July 2019, after going four years without a victory until last season’s triumphs over Oxford and Springston.
Hemmingson said getting off the mark early in the season was important.
“It’ll get the guys into the right frame of mind for this weekend, with Southern coming up to play us. We’ve got a couple of tough ones coming up, but there’s also a couple that were targeted that we think that we’ve got a good shot at.”
He said celebrations after the win ran long into Sunday morning.
“We didn’t have a repeat of the spa pool from last year cause we couldn’t find one, but it was a good night. I think they needed it.”
“We just weren’t firing on all cylinders as we normally should be, we struggled to move the ball wide and we kind of went into our shell a bit.
“Credit to Hornby, they definitely brought the game to us, but we definitely weren’t at our best on Saturday.”
The loss was Lincoln’s third in a row, and their second one-point defeat after going down 11-10 to Prebbleton the week prior.
McStay said he believed the team were close to playing at their best.
“We can definitely compete with some of these top teams when we show up and actually are playing our best footy.
“We know where we need to improve and we’re gonna try and hone in on that these next couple of weeks, just fix our little problems and hopefully we can turn those one-point losses into wins, cause we’re close.”
Lincoln will face tough opposition on Saturday hosting Methven, who have won their opening two combined country games and sit second in Pool A, while Hornby host Southern.
Prebbleton host Glenmark Cheviot in a clash between two unbeaten teams while winless West Melton travel to Oxford.
In Pool B, Waihora host defending champions Ashburton Celtic, while Southbridge travel to Loburn to take on Ashley.
Darfield and Springston meet in the only all-Ellesmere match-up, with points from the game going towards both the combined country and Coleman Shield competitions.
Combined country round 3 (Saturday)
- Oxford v West Melton, Oxford Oval, 2.45pm
- Ashley v Southbridge, Loburn Domain, 2.45pm
- Lincoln v Methven, Lincoln Domain, 3pm
- Hornby v Southern, Denton Park, 3pm
- Prebbleton v Glenmark Cheviot, Prebbleton Domain, 3pm
- Waihora v Ashburton Celtic, Rhodes Park, 3pm
- Darfield v Springston, Darfield Domain, 3pm
Points
Pool A: Glenmark Cheviot 10; Methven 9; Prebbleton 9; Southern 6; Oxford 5; Hurunui 5; Hornby 4; Lincoln 2; Saracens 1; West Melton 1
Pool B: Ashley 10; Rakaia 10; Ohoka 8; Darfield 7; Southbridge 6; Waihora 5; Kaiapoi 5; Ashburton Celtic 2; Springston 0; Woodend 0
