Badshot Lea co-manager Gavin Smith wasn’t happy when his side went down 2-1 to local rivals Farnham Town on Saturday.

But he experienced vastly different emotions on Tuesday evening as the Baggies produced a faultless display to beat Tadley Calleva 3-0.

And other results went their way too, with fellow promotion candidates Raynes Park Vale, Abbey Rangers and Jersey Bulls all playing and getting draws.

“We made a few changes from the weekend, including bringing back goalkeeper Kal Lunn. It was a bit harsh on Luke Roberts, because he’s been playing well, but Kal made an unbelievable save early on.

“The lads were brilliant. Dean Rule was unplayable – you won’t see a better performance from a wide player. The goal he scored was absolute quality.

“It was a good night for us – we knew Tadley would be tough at home so to win as we did was excellent.

“I have in my head how many points we need this season, and we are on the right track. We are ahead of last year’s points total, which we need to be, but we know we have a lot of tough games coming up.

“Redhill will be hard on Saturday as they have new management and are picking up, then we have Knaphill, which is always hard.

“But if we play like we did on Tuesday, we know we won’t have a problem. We seem to be able to do it in midweek but not so much on a Saturday, and we have to sort that.”

That Saturday sluggishness was in evidence at Farnham as they made a slow start.

The Baggies were 2-0 down after 13 minutes of the eagerly-anticipated Combined Counties Premier Division South clash, leaving themselves a mountain to climb.

Adam New then limped off injured before Tane Caubo pulled a goal back with a fine header, but the Baggies were unable to find an equaliser.

“We cost ourselves that game if I’m honest,” said Smith. “Things happen in matches but you can’t give teams goals. Apart from the goals we gifted them, I felt Farnham offered little.

“We didn’t do a lot, but we got our goal and I thought we’d probably get back in it – but we didn’t have enough quality.

“I actually thought some players had good, positive games from what they’ve done recently. I thought Dean Rule was good, Mal Thomas worked really hard, James Whiting came into the side and had a really good game, and George Headley was good.

“But we didn’t have the quality to win the game, and if you give teams a head start they’re going to cling on to something.

“It was the same against Camberley – we gave the goals away. You can’t keep giving goals away as a team – you give yourself an uphill battle and anyone can beat you.

“We’ll have to make changes. We’ve got a good squad, and we’re going to have to rotate it to keep people hungry.

“It was always going to be difficult because of the nature of the game.

“I’m just disappointed for the people at the club who do everything for us that we haven’t been able to go there and win.

“In the league, it’s between us, Raynes Park and Jersey. We don’t need to be relying on other teams, we should be doing a job. We’re not going to win every game, we can’t get down about it, but we’ve got to respond.

“To be fair every time we lose there’s usually a response.”