Sporting Bengal 2 Burnham 1

In-form Sporting Bengal made it three Essex Senior League wins in a row with success over lowly Burnham at Mile End Stadium.

Imrul Gazi’s men had upset Redbridge and Southend Manor in their previous two outings, having held high-flying FC Romania to a draw, but were made to work hard by Ramblers.

More goals from Shiblu Miah on 32 minutes and Oscar Almeida Mendes just past the hour – after both had netted in the 2-1 win at Manor a week earlier – proved enough to seal the points.

But Gazi was honest in his appraisal of the outcome, taking to social media site Twitter to post: “Not our best performance, but we got the win we wanted. Team is going in the right direction & we hav lots of options #teamsporting.”

Their latest win allowed Sporting to open up a nine-point gap on the bottom three, with seven matches still to play this season.

They are due to host fourth-placed Takeley next weekend in their last home fixture of the campaign and visit Barkingside two days later, before trips to Ilford, Haringey & Waltham, West Essex, Barking and Hullbridge during April.

Neighbours Tower Hamlets had suffered a 2-1 home defeat against Ilford on Friday night, in front of a three-figure crowd at Mile End, and are due to visit the Foxes in a quick return meeting on Wednesday.

Sporting Bengal: Tarawali, J Adjei, L Adjei, Da Silva, Kobia, Miah, Mendes, Murray-Bruce, Tandon. Subs: Noor, Samad, Vaughan, Wright.