Alton boss Kevin Adair was pleased with how his side competed against Combined Counties Premier Division South leaders Farnham Town.

Town beat Alton 2-0 on bank holiday Monday, but Adair was happy with how his side competed against the league leaders.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but we had a positive performance,” said Adair.

“You’ve got to look at where the two clubs are at and what they’re trying to achieve at the minute.

“We are building something with the resources we’ve got, and I’m really pleased with the group. We’ve had a really tough August in terms of injuries and player availability – I think you’ll see a different us between September and October.

“We’ve played arguably three of the teams who probably want to be in the top five, and had four cup games, so it’s been a really gruelling month, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

“I felt we were good in the first half. There were periods in the first half where we may have shaded it and been the better side. In the second half there were spells without the ball, but you’ve got to expect that – look at the quality of player they’ve got in their side.

“I like what Farnham are doing for the league and I tell our lads to test themselves against that – because they’ve got players who have played good levels of football. We defended well – although the first goal is a little bit disappointing in terms of how it came about.

“The second goal came after we committed men forward to get back in the game, so 2-0 doesn’t really reflect the game. I think 1-0 would have been a fairer scoreline and possibly we were even good enough for a point – but we need to be a bit more clinical and a bit better in forward areas.

“We’ve got new groups forming in forward areas and even in the midfield areas people are learning what we want from them.

“We’ve played five formations in August because of how late our group was put together – we’re didn’t have the luxury of having the players and the group in early. The lads have just got to keep on doing what we ask.

“We are definitely moving forward – I see a bigger picture.”