BARKINGSIDE scraped a win over Clapton on Saturday, but boss Tony Fenn knows his side will have to improve drastically after twice letting The Tons back into the game.

At the break they looked to be coasting at 2-0, but a poor second-half performance almost saw them throw away three points.

“The first half was reasonable, but the second was sloppy and we should have been home and dry by then,” said Fenn.

“A win is a win and moves us up the table so I cannot be too disappointed.”

“It’s a good sign to not play your best and win, but we need to be more consistent if we are to continue our rise up the league.”

’Side were dominant from the off against the league’s basement-boys and took the lead early on.

The home side failed to clear their lines after the first corner of the match and the ball eventually fell to Jordan Tolan who made no mistake with his header.

However, after falling behind, Clapton immediately looked to peg them back and had an opportune moment to do so when Kareem Hanson beat the offside trap, but his effort was parried by the on-rushing Luke Dodd in the ‘Side goal.

Tolan almost added a second as he again lost the home defence, but Jerry Jarette did well to push the ball behind for a corner.

Then, on the stroke of half time, the hosts gave away a penalty when Perry Burns was brought down in the box and the experienced Tolan slotted past Jarette with ease.

To their credit, Clapton responded well after the break and found a way back into the match on the hour mark.

The ball fell kindly for Esteban Giraldo and the midfielder’s shot flew past Dodd with the help of a slight deflection, which wrong-footed the keeper.

The Oakside outfit soon restored their two-goal cushion when Ryan Imbert rose the highest amongst a melee of players inside the six-yard box to head home and make it 3-1.

The hosts didn’t give in though and Alin Cristea looked lively upon his arrival, with Dodd having to palm an effort of his behind for a corner.

Clapton did pull one back in stoppage time through skipper Mark Beaumont, who tapped in from close range, but the visitors’ held on.

Barkingside: Dodd, Falco, Burnett, Good, Dennis (Cosson), Tolan (Lustic), Burns, Tomlinson, Imbert, Georgiou (Steel), Lockwood.