SWINDON Supermarine manager Lee Spalding was delighted after watching his team beat Southern League Premier Division South promotion chasers Metropolitan Police 1-0 at home on Saturday.

Marine recorded their third win on the bounce against a team that had did have ambitions of lifting the title.

Harry Williams scored his first goal for the club immediately after half-time at the Webbswood Stadium to lift Marine within six points of the play-off places.

Spalding is not focusing on the top seven this season, though, and believes his side are building a solid platform for a promotion push next year.

He said: “We scored a good goal and had two or three chances after to extend our lead, but overall, it was a really good win against a team that were second in the league.

“Defensively, we were very strong and to beat a team as strong as Met Police is a great result.

“It’s important that we finish the season well. We’ve brought a lot of new players in and with the quality that we’ve got at the club now, we’ve got a really strong squad.

“We’re pointing in the right direction ahead of next season. We’re having a very positive end to the season and hopefully we can kick on next season.”

After Saturday’s win, Marine have claimed maximum points in four of their last five games, while playing some extremely attractive stuff in the process.

Spalding admitted the win against Met Police was far from vintage, but insisted that it is important for his team to be able to grind out results in future if they are to achieve their ambition of reaching National League South next term.

He said: “We started the game OK, but it was a real battle in the first half.

“We gave a good account of ourselves defensively, but we didn't played what I would call free-flowing football.

“We didn’t really get the ball down and play like we can, but I thought we dug in well against a good side who were quite direct.

“I thought Met Police were going to pass the ball around a lot more than they did.

“In the second half, we were a lot brighter. The message was to get the ball down and start playing it around a bit more, and we did.”