Ryan Maxwell believes there is still more to come from Walthamstow, after they moved up to third place in the Essex Senior League with a 1-0 win over Ilford on Saturday.

James Peagram notched his eleventh goal of the season on the stroke of half-time to extend Stow’s unbeaten run to seven games.

Maxwell’s side dominated the opening period and thought they should have had a penalty in the first minute when Peagram was hauled down inside the area, but the referee waved away Walthamstow’s protests.

Junior Appiah was then denied by an excellent save by Hugo Rossetti and after Ilford had rattled the bar, Stow would deservedly take the lead on the stroke of half time, when Peagram turned home Billy Jones’ cutback from close range.

Walthamstow had further chances to increase their advantage in the second half, with Jones hitting the bar, while Reece Conway and Craig Pope both came close with long range efforts.

In the end, they had to be content with a narrow 1-0 victory and Maxwell was “very pleased” with his side’s performance after they secured their third win in four games.

He said: “The performance was very good and I’m very pleased. To a man, the team not only gave 110%, but they also carried out instructions that I’d given to them before the game.

“It could have been more as we had a good few chances and a couple of penalty decisions turned away. But away from home, on a very windy and blustery day, you take the three points and a clean sheet is a massive bonus.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that there’s more to come from the team. We have had some good results but have been a little indifferent at times during the games themselves. We’re quite young and you get a little bit of that with youth.

“The capability in the squad has yet to be fulfilled and there’s a lot of promise in there. We’re only getting better.

“We dropped a couple of points at home to Leyton and also at St Margaretsbury and also Hullbridge Sports. We just need a little bit of game management and experience and once we get that, then I’ll be really excited.”

With no Essex Senior League game this Saturday, you’d think that Walthamstow would be making the most of a rare free weekend during the football season.

But boss Maxwell has other ideas, with the side set to take on Clapton Community FC in a friendly at Wadham Lodge on Friday evening, with kick off at 7:45pm.

The game will be a perfect opportunity for some of Walthamstow’s fringe players to impress and Maxwell isn’t taking their opponents lightly, with Clapton currently in fourth place in the Middlesex Counties League Division 1 Central & East.

Asked about the upcoming friendly, the Northern Irishman said: “I want the lads who haven’t been playing as much to get minutes. It will be treated like a proper game and they (Clapton) deserve the respect as well as the people paying to watch.

“It’s good for the area and we don’t have a game on the Saturday, so it made total sense for us to have a game with Clapton, who we get along well with. We’re all looking forward to it, so it should be a very good night.”