Corinthian Casuals maintained their good form with a hard fought 2-1 win away at Sittingbourne courtesy of goals from Josh Uzun and Juevan Spencer.

The result means Casuals have won seven of their past eight games and are unbeaten in five as boss James Bracken's men have moved up to second int he Ryman Division One South table.

“It’s the worst pitch we’ve played on this season and so we’ve had to change our game plan, which perhaps wasn’t the prettiest, but three points was the priority and that’s what we’ve got," said the manager.

“I said to the boys before we started ‘if you’re going to be near the top of the league, you’ve not only got to win when the pitches are good and everything is flowing nicely, but you’ve got to show you can scrap and win that way.’

“Team spirit is fantastic since I took over in the summer. But we’re level. You won’t see me or the lads change.

"If we’re two-up, two-down or win four in a row, it stays the same. If we lose one or two, of course we won’t be happy but you won’t see us down in the dumps and we’ll soon get back on another run.”

On what can be described as a ‘tricky’ surface, play was never going to be fast and free flowing and the early exchanges came to little.

It was therefore unsurprising that the deadlock was broken from a set-piece. Josh Uzun was fouled just outside the Sittingbourne area and the midfielder took it upon himself to place the ball over the wall and leave 16-year-old Adam Wallace flat footed.

Minutes later, Juevan Spencer turned his defender and his shot managed to beat Wallace but struck the base of the post .

Bourne grew into the game and Danny Bracken was forced into making a fine stop from Harry Smith.

All the light-heartedness of a supporter’s half-time crossbar challenge soon went by the wayside as the second half began and decidedly turned feisty.

Casuals felt aggrieved that they weren’t awarded a penalty after Stef Joseph latched onto a ball before Wallace could intercept and the goalkeeper appeared to hold back the forward before the Brickies could recover.

Sustained pressure from Sittingbourne soon paid off.

A free kick from Hicham Akhazzan struck Dave Hodges in the wall and the resulting deflection sent Bracken the wrong way, with the ball sailing into an empty part of the net.

With quarter of an hour to go came a real turning point as Sittingbourne’s Stefan Wright collected a read card after clashing in a challenge with Hodges.

Although Wright won the ball, the two-footed tackle was adjudged dangerous and left Hodges with a nasty injury.

Down to ten men, the Bourne found themselves a goal down just two minutes later.

An incisive pass from Warren Morgan through the penalty box found Spencer at the far post and the in-form winger had no hesitation in slotting the ball home to the delight of the small travelling band of Casuals’ supporters behind the goal.