With results elsewhere going their way, a 3-2 win against Erith and Belvedere has lifted Witham up to second in the Ryman League division one north table.

Boss Garry Kimble wasn’t pleased by his team’s “lacklustre” performance, but he was happy with the end outcome of their game at the Village Glass Stadium.

Kimble’s team had to come from behind twice, but they managed to secure a 3-2 win with goals from James Stevens, John Watson and Shamido Pedulu.

Kimble said: “We were lacklustre and to be fair I thought we were poor for the whole 90 minutes.

“We dug in, though, and the turning point was them having the man sent off just before half-time.

“But we found it hard to play against ten.

“As I said to the players, they can’t keep coming out and performing like that.

“It’s not acceptable.

“I had to make changes and I thought Tom Wraight looked lively when he came on and Shami scored again after coming on.

“Overall, though, I’m happy with the three points but not happy with the performance.

“I suppose it’s a sign of a good side to take three points and not play well, but I felt we got out of jail.

“It’s taken us up to second as a lot of other results went our way and it’s still in our hands, but the players have to know they can’t just turn up and go through the motions like that.

“It’s not acceptable for a Witham Town side and we got lucky.”

Having fallen behind in the 16th minute when Marcus Cassius’ shot was deflected past Martyn Guest in the home goal, Witham pulled level when Stevens rammed home a free-kick from just outside the box in the 37th miniute.

It was the Witham midfielder’s 15th goal of the season, but they were behind again within five minutes when a good move ended with Felix Ogea-Andrews finding the back of the net.

However, a red card for Cassius – for violent conduct – just before the break, swung things back in Witham’s favour.

They continued to labour against ten men after the break, but Kimble made changes with Tom Wraight and Pedulu coming on and they had a big impact as Witham ended the game on top.

Good work by Wraight saw him pull the ball back first in the 67th minute for Watson to stab it home and Wraight then drilled it across the face of goal with 15 minutes remaining to where Pedulu smashed it home for the winner.