A GUTSY Laverstock and Ford shaded a windswept clash with Tadley Calleva on Tuesday night.

James Clifton's 29th minute effort was the only goal of the game at the Dell, which saw them move into fourth in Sydenhams Wessex Division One.

After Adam Jones had rocked the woodwork from 25-yards, Clifton darted past his man and arrowed a fierce drive into the bottom corner.

Tadley were reduced to a few long range efforts and set pieces in the second half but should have equalised on 70 minutes when a free header was directed straight into the mitts of Alexis Aguer.

Joint bosses Liam McConnell and Robbie Lakeman lauded their troops:

"We were fantastic today," they said, "the game was bordering on a farce at times with the strong winds but we got the goal and our defending was absolutely brilliant.

At half time we asked the players to up their work rate to make sure we held on to the lead and to a man they did that. It wasn't pretty but we showed we have got a dogged, gritty performance in our locker when it's needed."