NO ONE at Supermarine will dwell too much on the quality of the performance against Banbury at the weekend, according to goalscorer Nick Stanley.

The wide man opened the scoring midway through the first half at the Webb’s Wood Stadium and substitute Max Etheridge made sure of the 2-0 win late on.

And while Stanley admitted that the standard of Marine’s play was far from their best, he said that the victory that leaves them five points from Southern Premier safety was of far greater value.

“It was an important win, although the game itself wasn’t the best,” he said.

“During the game we weren’t winning the first and second balls all the time, so it made it a bit of a tough one.

”We didn’t really get the ball down and play our normal game, and Banbury worked quite hard to prevent us passing it around.

“We knew we really needed the win so I guess we got a bit nervous, but it doesn’t matter how you play as long as you get the points at the end.

“I’m sure our supporters and management would much rather see us not play well and get three points, rather than play well and get nothing.”

Marine were fortunate to be level midway through the first half, when Josh Blake cracked against the underside of the bar after turning smartly on the edge of the area.

Moments later Bradley Gray beat the offside trap and his cross eventually came to Ben Wells, who sent in another cross that Stanley converted at the back post.

Banbury had appeals for a penalty turned down just after the hour when goalkeeper Kent Kauppinen blocked a shot from Blake, and the visitors claimed he had followed through and taken the man.

Gray then sent a 35-yard chip just over the bar before Blake was again denied by Kauppinen after being released by Dior Angus.

Banbury desperately attempted to grab an equaliser in the closing moments but Marine wrapped up the points two minutes from the end, as striker Etheridge shot home from close range.

Meanwhile, Chippenham boss Adie Mings admitted his side’s 1-0 home defeat to Hitchin was a bitter pill to swallow.

The Bluebirds dominated proceedings but John Frendo’s second-half strike settled matters, while Alan Griffin missed a penalty and Mani Randhawa was sent off late on.

“I don’t know what we’ve got to do to win a game at the moment,” said Mings.

“We’ve created three or four good chances in the first half, three or four good chances in the second luck and we’ve missed a penalty - that’s the way it’s going at this moment in time.

“It’s very tough and now we’re in a massive rut that we’ve got to try and get ourselves out of.

“I think if we’d scored the penalty before half-time and with the way we played in the second half, we would have gone on to win the game.”

Elsewhere, Cirencester are now 14 points from safety afterthey were sunk 2-0 by Leamington.

Jamie Hood rose highest to nod in a corner in the 67th minute. And Alex Taylor wrapped up the points in the 74th minute when he sent a low drive into the corner of the net.