Alton manager Kevin Adair was frustrated that his side had to settle for a share of the spoils from their trip to Banstead Athletic in the Combined Counties Premier Division South on Saturday.

The Brewers earned a 1-1 draw from the relegation six-pointer to maintain their six-point advantage over second-bottom Banstead.

Victory would have moved Alton nine points clear of the drop and significantly eased any relegation concerns, but Adair’s side are still nervously looking over their shoulder.

The match survived a morning pitch inspection, and Alton fell behind early on. The Brewers equalised in the 19th minute through Siph Mdlalose’s close-range finish. Alton pushed for a winner, but had to settle for a point.

“It was a very tough place to go as the pitch was difficult to play football on,” said Adair.

“They had done a lot of work to get the game on and I would always rather play football – it was the same for both teams.

“We had four or five clearcut chances in the first half, but it’s just not happening for us. We’re not getting much luck. Having said that, it definitely wasn’t our best performance.

“In our past ten league games we’ve only lost three but have drawn five. Only losing three out of ten games is not relegation form, especially as we have played seven of the top eight in that run. If we had won one or two more of those draws it would look better. We’ve still got to play three teams around us and don’t have to play any of the top four.

“When you look at what happened last Tuesday at Frimley with the floodlights, the missed penalty against Colliers Wood, and the disallowed penalty against Farnham, we’ve had things go against us.

“It’s a fantastic group of players I’ve got here to manage – they’ve stood by me. You can only do as much as you can to control the controllables.

“If other teams around us are winning, that’s fate.”