Badshot Lea moved up to second spot in the Combined Counties Premier Division South – but no-one is going overboard.
While the Baggies have lost just one of their 19 league games this season, have scored more goals than anyone and only Jersey Bulls have a better defensive record, co-manager Gavin Smith believes there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
Connagh Wilks opened the scoring, and after the interval Tane Caubo and Mal Thomas made the game safe.
At the weekend they had registered the same scoreline as they brushed aside Horley Town – but Smith was far from happy with his side’s performance.
Adam New broke the deadlock for the Baggies in the first half, before Horley’s Liam Steer was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge.
Caubo’s second-half double sealed the three points, but Smith insisted there was plenty of improvement to be had.
“The three points is the positive, but I thought it was a really poor game,” said Smith.
“It was an average performance. No-one excelled, no-one looked really good.
“Obviously the sending off helped us, but it was a bad tackle and deserved to be a red.
“We didn’t really take advantage – we just strolled through the game. It was a boring game. I wanted something to happen, for someone to do something.
“We got another clean sheet, thanks to Luke Roberts. They had a couple of chances with ten men, but the sign of a good keeper is one who doesn’t get tested until late on but does something for their team, and Luke pulled off two really good saves.
“His decision making was good, so that was pleasing.
“The players didn’t work as hard as they can, and there were a few poor performances.
“They’ve been good for us, though, so we can’t grumble, and won’t hold it against them. I’m not going to drop people just for one bad performance, but we need to be better.
“If we want to achieve something this season, we’ve got to be on it week in, week out.
“The first goal was a great finish from Adam. I thought he was going to smash it but he’s pulled it back inside, and that little bit of quality separates the top sides from the teams at the bottom.
“I’m pleased for Tane. We’ve never said to him that we want him to score 30 goals this season – he’s out there to work hard and sometimes he comes off when he’s worked hard and someone will go on and score.
“He’ll be pleased, although he won’t be pleased with us taking him off on a hat-trick.”
Next up for Badshot Lea is a home game against bottom side Frimley Green on Saturday (3pm), but Smith is expecting a tough match.
“I watched Frimley Green against Alton, and I quite liked them – they’re young and they’ve got some good quality,” he said.