Badshot Lea 2, Walton & Hersham 3

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice. Try telling Gavin Smith that.

Badshot Lea boss Smith could only look on in despair as rock-bottom Walton & Hersham completed a smash-and-grab raid at Krooner Park on Saturday to deny his side a point – just five days after then Premier Division leaders Chertsey Town had done likewise to secure a 2-1 win over Lea with a 93rd-minute winner.

“Losing in the last minute is the worst way to lose,” lamented Smith, who admitted that a draw would probably have been a fair result but praised the visitors for their second-half showing.

Lea made the perfect start as they looked for their first win in three games to move themselves away from the relegation zone, with Max Herbert spotting the Walton keeper off his line and executing a sublime lob to give Lea the lead on 10 minutes.

And it was no less than Lea deserved from a strong opening which saw James Pilgrim have a shot pushed round the post by visiting goalkeeper Luke Daley and Liam Flanighan send a shot sailing over the crossbar when well placed.

But having weathered the early Lea storm, Walton & Hersham battled back into the game with their lively and pacy front three of Tyreke Leslie, Sebastian Osei-Obengo and Simon Offei a constant threat.

And they were rewarded with two goals in seven minutes at the end of the first half – the second with virtually the last kick of the half – to stun Lea and turn the game on its head.

Osei-Obengo was first to a long ball through the middle that the Lea defence failed to deal with to score the equaliser before Offei fired past the despairing dive of Lea goalkeeper Jordan Clement to give the Swans the lead.

With the game getting away from Badshot Lea in the wake of a strong performance from the rejuvenated visitors in the second half, Harry Cooksley, on loan from Southern League side Farnborough, took full advantage of a dubious penalty award for a foul to fire the spot kick low to Walton keeper Daley’s right.

But Walton & Hersham weren’t to be denied a first win in six games when Leslie used his speed and strength to brush off the attention of two Lea defenders and fire the ball home off the inside of Clement’s near post.

“I thought we started the game well and in the first 20 to 25 minutes we dictated the game and probably should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up. We missed two really good chances. If you score then, with them being at the bottom of the league that can be the end of the game,” said Smith.

“The pleasing thing was that we were playing how we wanted to play and it was working, and then we grew in confidence and maybe we went off piste a little bit. But it was another error that gifted them a goal because up until then I couldn’t see them scoring.”

On a different day, Lea could very easily have picked up at least two points for their efforts at both Chertsey and on Saturday, but instead they have now lost three games on the trot and slipped to 17th in the Premier Division, and a nervy four points above the relegation zone, after Raynes Park Vale’s midweek win over Horley.

“We’re scratching our heads at the moment because we’ve been playing better football in the last two games than when we were winning but we’re now losing. It’s a positive that we are playing better but we need to win games.

“As easy as it is to win three games in a row sometimes, it’s just as easy to lose three games in a row. We simply haven’t got that consistency at the moment. We haven’t even got that consistency within games. Saturday was a prime example – we were really good then we were really poor.”

On Saturday, Lea will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to London to face CB Hounslow at Green Lane (kick-off 3pm).

Hounslow are three places higher in the league than Badshot Lea but are on level points, only leading on goal difference.

Badshot Lea: Clement, Blake, Roberts, Flanighan, Bonsu, Close (May 74), Pilgrim (Ford 62), Lloyd, Cooksley, Herbert, Francis (Connolly 53). Subs: Pound, Hounto-Hotegbe.