Badshot Lea continued their promotion push with a 2-0 win at Abbey Rangers in the Combined Counties Premier Division South on Saturday – but co-manager Gavin Smith wasn’t happy with his side’s performance.

Abbey missed a penalty in the first minute and had other chances to take the lead.

The Baggies went ahead through Mal Thomas’ penalty in the 37th minute, and Thomas wrapped up the win with his second on 71 minutes.

Smith felt his side have room for improvement, though.

“Abbey did what they do very well,” said Smith.

“Going forward they caused us problems. It took us a bit of time to get to grips with it.

“We’re very good at what we do but out of possession if someone is causing us problems we can be slow to figure it out on the pitch and sort it out.

“We were lucky they put the penalty wide. They also hit the post, and Craig Bradshaw made a good double save.

“Sometimes when things go for you like that it can be your day – although it looked like we were going to concede.

“We couldn’t get to grips with what they were doing – we could have been 2-0 down.

“It was not good enough – we were not at it.

“There was a bit of laughing and joking in the warm-ups – I’ve not got a problem with that if you do your jobs.

“But you have to be fully focused when the game starts.

“The penalty was a good finish by Mal. We rely on Mal for those moments for his quality to come through. We improved in the second half and defended better as a whole – Abbey didn’t create too much and didn’t get in behind us.

“It’s another three points towards where we want to be.”

The Baggies host Tadley Calleva on Saturday (3pm), while promotion rivals Jersey Bulls and Raynes Park Vale will face each other in a tasty clash.

“We’ve got to do our job against Tadley, and then we can go in the bar and look at the other result,” said Smith. “A draw would be ideal for us.

“We’ve still got a lot of tough away games and Farnham at home will be tricky.”