ANDRE Scarlett scored twice on Saturday as Chesham made it three wins out of three in the Premier Division by beating Bishop's Stortford 3-1.

Grant Cooper also netted from the penalty spot as the Meadow Men maintained the gap between themselves and the bottom clubs.

It was an important victory for Chesham but a scrappy game as manager Colin Lippiatt acknowledged.

He said: "Overall, we did not play well and there was no flow to the game but we dug in and showed a lot of competitiveness. I'm really pleased with the win"

Chesham were straight out of the starting blocks for the second game running to go one-up after just four minutes.

On-loan Fabien Forde sprang the offside track and touched it past the on-rushing keeper. It bounced off the right hand post but Scarlett was on hand to score.

Scarlett had another chance on 12 minutes when Forde cut the ball back from the right and Micky Desborough pulled off the save from Scarlett.

It was a game devoid of chances, with Stortford taking 28 minutes to register their first shot.

Chesham increased their lead on 42 minutes when Scarlett's 30-yard shot deflected off a defender and nestled in the right hand corner of the goal.

But Tom Neill and Steve Sinclair went off at half time with tight hamstrings, forcing a change in the defence and Stortford took advantage on 58 minutes when Rob France's 25-yard effort deflected in.

Stortford pressed and, for a while, looked the more likely to score.

But Chesham rode the storm and got a penalty when Forde was upended after collecting Dwain Clarke's pass.

Cooper netted with ease and Chesham held on to claim the points.

January 27, 2003 15:00