Badshot Lea 3, Guildford City 0

WHEN Gavin Smith and Dave Ford took over the reins at Badshot Lea at the end of December they had one objective – to avoid relegation from the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League.

Thirteen games and an impressive eight wins and 25 points later, it’s almost job done – as goals from new signing Meshach Williams, Ryan Scott and Brandon Lewington put them within touching distance of safety with a dominant 3-0 win in a feisty clash with Guildford City at Krooner Park on Tuesday night.

Williams, who signed from Southern League Fleet Town in time to score two goals during Saturday’s 3-3 draw away against leaders Sutton Common Rovers, set the ball rolling on Tuesday night with a cool low finish into the bottom corner four minutes before half-time before central defender Scott got the final touch on Max Herbert’s goalbound free-kick on 70 minutes and Lewington wrapped up the points with a classy finish four minutes from time.

And a resilient display from the back four and skipper Jordan Clement between the sticks ensured Lea also walked away with a welcome clean sheet.

“We know now that we only need to win a couple more games,” said Smith, “but we won’t relax until we are mathematically safe. I’d like to go unbeaten until the end of the season, but I don’t like to put too much pressure on people and we’ve got to get away from that relegation zone first. That’s what we set out to do, but if we can finish as high as possible it would be brilliant.

“If we could start the season again we’ve got a side capable of being right up there.”

While the likeable boss may be reluctant to count his chickens, it’s hard to imagine in light of a strong showing at Sutton on Saturday and a fiercely competitive display against Guildford on Tuesday night that Lea will be anywhere other than the Premier Division when they move to their posh new ground in Wrecclesham next season.

If results go their way on Saturday, Lea can ensure their safety with a win at relegation-threatened Balham next Wednesday.

And they fully deserve it after what Smith described as a “superb” first-half performance against Sutton, who needed a late equaliser to earn a point, and a professional job against an aggressive Guildford side who had Dan Band rightly sent off after leaving both Danilo Cadete and Max Herbert in a heap with crunching tackles.

“The (Sutton) pitch is amazing and the whole set up is amazing. The lads got there and they were buzzing from it,” said Smith. “We didn’t just pass for the sake of passing, we passed and we created. We looked really good and you wouldn’t know they were top and we are where we are.

“Sutton couldn’t have had any complaints if we had won that game. We deserved three points.

“And we carried it on last night which was good because we’ve struggled to find consistency between games.”

Williams latched onto an exquisite through ball from Mac Ford for Lea’s opener against Sutton while Cadete was on hand to chest the ball and find the back of the net after right back Darren Blake was unlucky to see his effort cannon back off the crossbar for the third.

And it was that man Williams who opened the scoring again on Tuesday night with his third goal in two games as he raced onto Ford’s clever flick to coolly send a low right-foot shot curling past the diving Guildford goalkeeper.

“We are always aware that having a goalscorer is very important and if you look at the league we’ve scored one of the lowest amounts of goals, so we’ve obviously missed a goalscorer and we’ve been lucky to get him,” said Smith.

“He took his goal nicely last night and he did the same on Saturday. When he goes through he just looks like he knows what he’s doing. He’s going to be a real positive in the last few games.”

Scott then pounced at the back stick as Herbert sent in a wicked low free kick from the right with 20 minutes left to all but make the game safe before Band saw red.

And Lewington sealed an ultimately comfortable win when he was fed the ball from a throw in on the right before deftly turning his marker and arrowing a low shot into the bottom corner.

Badshot Lea: Clement, Blake, Flanighan, Bonsu, Scott, Lloyd, Cadete (Sowden 86), Herbert, Williams, Ford (Lewington 79), Thripp (Close 87). Subs: Cousins, Roberts.