Redhill 1, Badshot Lea 2

TWO goals from debutant Danilo Cadette earned improving Badshot Lea a second successive away win as they look to pull away from the danger zone in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League.

Pacy winger Cadette, who has joined from Southern League side Fleet Town, opened the scoring on 14 minutes before scoring the winner on 62 minutes after an intelligent ball from fellow newcomer Kalum Cousins, who has signed on dual-registration forms from Basingstoke Town.

Saturday’s win follows victory at CB Hounslow seven days earlier as Lea moved to within touching distance of mid-table.

“We’ll try to keep our feet on the ground because we’ve been here before but the pleasing thing now is that we’ve got a shape that we’re sticking to and we’re playing nice football,” said Lea boss Gavin Smith, who began his reign alongside Dave Ford with three successive wins.

“The majority of the time we’re trying to pass it and we look good when we do. The pitch wasn’t great on Saturday and we still played some good football. Everyone played well, everyone who came on did well, and the changes gave us an extra dimension.”

And Smith was pleased with the impact that his new players had on the game, with Cousins setting up Cadette’s winner and Brandon Lewington, a young striker from Woking Academy, coming on as a second-half substitute.

“We’ve got people who can make a difference, and we’ve got a little bit of pace in the side now. We’ve got good options available off the bench or starting.”

Cadette calmly side-footed the opener inside the first quarter of an hour before a mix up at the back after a long ball over the top gifted Redhill an equaliser.

But Cadette ensured Lea went home with all three points when he capped a fine team move which began on the right, switched across to the left and ended when he ran off the shoulder of a Redhill defender to convert Cousins’ through ball.

“The only disappointing thing was that we gave them their goal,” said Smith, who added that Redhill probably should have scored with a header in the second half while goalkeeper Jordan Clement bravely foiled a Redhill striker after being left one on one.

“We possibly rode our luck a bit but I thought we worked hard enough and played well enough to deserve that.”

Now Lea, who lie 15th but only one point off 11th place, face a crucial spell of three games in seven days, starting with Hanworth Villa at home on Saturday before a rearranged game at Balham next Wednesday and a visit from AFC Hayes to Krooner Park on March 9.

“We said when we took over that we thought we had to win about nine games to get enough points but you never know,” said Smith, who side has already won five of those.

“The next few games are really important, but we’re just pleased with how we are playing and what we are doing. We’ve got a seven-point cushion and a few games in hand, which don’t always count for much when you are down the bottom, but if we can pick up a couple of wins in the next few games then all of a sudden we have got to lose a lot of games and the other teams have got to win a lot of games.”

Badshot Lea: Clement, Blake, Roberts, Scott, Bonsu, Lloyd, Cadette, Pilgrim (Cousins 58), May (Lewington 65), Ford (Francis 90), Thripp.