Farnham Town manager Paul Johnson was happy to see his side claim the Coxbridge Derby bragging rights with a 2-1 win at home to Badshot Lea in the Isthmian League South Central Division.

The Baggies took an early lead through Charlie George, but goals from Jordan Gallagher and Ryan Kinnane gave Town the three points in front of a crowd of 1,020 at The Memorial Ground.

The win meant Farnham completed the double over the Baggies this season after winning 5-1 in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season in August.

The Baggies competed well at The Memorial Ground despite their lowly position in the league table, and Johnson admitted it had been a tricky game for his side.

“It was a difficult game – they made it difficult for us,” said Johnson.

“We spoke before Christmas to the boys about winning at all costs, and we've done that.

“Badshot Lea came and did a good job at doing it trying to hit us on the counter with the boy up top who was lively and caused us a few problems.

“We totally dominated the ball. It wasn't a great spectacle for a Christmas game – you want to be going at it full-blooded but they killed the atmosphere, which was credit to them.”

Johnson was pleased with his side’s swift response to falling behind with Gallagher’s 11th-minute equaliser cancelling out George’s third-minute opener.

“It was a great response,” said Johnson.

“It was a great finish by their lad to take the lead but it was a great response by us.

“We scored and it got us going a little bit.

“I felt if we scored one more it may have opened up a bit more.”

With the score level at 1-1 at half-time Johnson admitted he asked for an improvement from his team in the second half, and Kinnane ultimately scored the winner in the 47th minute.

“The message at half-time was to move the ball quicker and realise what we were trying to do,” said Johnson.

“Jordan was pulling out in the pocket really well and there was space in behind and we just didn't recognise it quickly enough.

“We told the boys to see the picture on the pitch a lot quicker than they did in the first half and to be better.

“We were a little bit better and we won the game.

“It was a frustrating afternoon but we won and we've got to be happy – that's the double over our local rivals.”

Johnson had freshened up his side from the team which had won 3-1 at Hartley Wintney on Boxing Day, and he felt it was the right thing to do with such a quick turnaround between games over the festive period.

“We changed it up a little bit and we came through the game unscathed,” said Johnson.

“We look at the data and Mark Waters clocked almost 11km against Hartley Wintney so we thought we'd take him out and put Ben Purcell in.

“We knew we'd have a lot of the ball and Ben is so good with the ball.

“Darryl Sanders got good minutes and it was good to get all the boys on and rotate it.

“Darryl needs the minutes. In a couple of weeks he'll be up and running and we'll be seeing the best of him again.”