WANTAGE Town boss Ben Sadler has new-found confidence that his side can beat the drop after their 2-1 victory over Barnstaple Town in the Evo-Stik Southern League on Saturday, writes Matthew Bruce.

Mark Francis and Jack Powell netted in the 22nd and 49th minutes respectively to take Wantage off the bottom of the Division 1 South & West

James Blake replied for the visitors in the 72nd minute to set up a tense finish, but the hosts held on.

The victory was Sadler’s first since taking over from Stuart Cattell as manager in December and just the second league win for the Alfredians all season.

They remain eight points adrift of safety, but after seeing his side lifted off the bottom, Sadler is now looking upwards.

He said: “It felt good to finally get that first win and we definitely deserved it.

“Now we’ve got that behind us it’s just a case of building on it and picking up as many points as possible before the end of the season.

“Mentally, it’s massive for those players.

“We’ve been close in all of the games we’ve played and everyone has said that, but things just haven’t gone for us.

“This should give them all belief that they can win games at this level and I have total confidence in them.

“Hopefully we’ll see the effect of this result in the weeks to come.”