Farnham Town thumped old rivals Fleet 5-0 on Monday – and manager Sean Birchnall knows his side can play even better.

The boss was delighted with the overall performance – but even though Fleet were dead and buried, they still posed problems.

“We have to defend resolutely and stop teams having opportunities,” he said.

“James Ferguson in goal made two great saves late on and we have to stop teams having those chances.

“If we can do that, we can really express ourselves – and we have some real talent with Kane Fitzgerald, Jack French in the middle of the park, Owen Dean... but we have to earn that right to play by working hard without the ball.

“When you have control of the ball, you can express yourself. If you’re not working and you don’t have the ball, you can’t do anything.

“Monday was really pleasing. We have played games that have been very tight and it was good to see everything coming together a bit better.

“The players are beginning to understand one another a bit better and we were a lot more settled.

“We’ve had a nucleus of players who have been involved in almost every game and they’re getting to know each other.

“We had a couple of games in the past month that have been a bit frustrating but the players have bounced back really well.

“We have Colliers Wood away on Saturday which will be extremely rough, and after a cup game we play Redhill which will be extremely tough.

“Colliers Wood are a decent outfit.

“They were beaten by Camberley this week but before that they had won four out of four in the league.

“The players are looking forward to it. Every game is a challenge even when you’re playing teams at the bottom of the league. You have to face every game the same way and focus on your own strengths.”