Tadley Calleva produced a professional performance on Saturday afternoon, securing a convincing 3-0 victory over Balham at Barlow's Park.

The local outfit saw out their first-half lead despite playing the entire second-half with ten men, putting the icing on the cake with a last-minute goal to grab all three-points in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South fixture.

Tadley manager, Joe Lawler said: “It was nice to actually go into half-time leading for once – which has been a bit of a different story this season.

“I think the first-half, we started a little bit slow – first five, ten minutes – then we grew into the game.

“I felt like we put a lot of pressure on their backline and scored two good goals, which was nice.

“We were a little bit sloppy in the first-half, we could have been a bit better on the ball, could have kept possession a bit more and could have made it even more of an easier day for us.

“We missed a big chance to make it 3-0 which probably would have killed the game.

“I said at half-time and after the game, that’s the learning curve for us because obviously going into the second-half – being reduced to ten-men pretty quickly – made it a difficult day for us, and I think if we went 3-0 up, it might not have gone that way.

“At 2-0, you are always keeping the opposition in the game.

“I thought the boys really put the effort in [after the red card], and again, the subs came off the bench and got the third goal, and it was three subs that created it, brought a lot of energy to the team when we were down to ten-men.

“Really happy to keep the clean sheet with ten-men for that amount of time.”

The Romans set the tone early in front of the home supporters, seizing control of the match midway through the first-half.

Brad Neal broke the deadlock in the 21st minute, before Kieran Rodgers doubled the advantage just five minutes later to put Tadley firmly in the driving seat at 2-0 heading into the break.

The contest took a dramatic turn shortly after the restart when Logan Lowes was shown a red card following a caution in the 49th minute.

Forced to dig deep for more than a full half, manager Joe Lawler’s side demonstrated exceptional defensive structure to keep the visitors at bay.

Tadley managed the game expertly, utilising a string of second-half substitutions – including Alfie Burton, Lors Nicholas, and Scott Costello – to disrupt Balham's momentum and see out the pressure.

Any lingering hopes of a comeback from the London side were firmly extinguished in the 89th minute.

Mal Thomas capped off a stellar afternoon's work by netting Tadley's third, finishing off a great move that involved three of Lawler’s substitutes.

The goal rounded off a superb team display to seal all three-points to the delight of the home faithful.