HASHTAG United boss Jay Devereux heaped praise on his side following a well-deserved 2-1 win against Billericay Town.

A first half penalty from Alfie Cue and a second half strike from Pedro Carvalho secured Tags’ second victory in the space of three days.

And Devereux felt Hashtag could have triumphed by a far greater margin at the Len Salmon Stadium.

“The performance was really good and if anything there’s a tinge of frustration at conceding a goal and not scoring more,” said Devereux.

“We could have had a hatful really because I thought we were really good.”

Hashtag, who sit seventh in the Isthmian Premier Division, started on the front foot with Billericay goalkeeper Dan Wilks denying both Sam Cornish and Carvalho.

But, with 27 minutes on the clock, a goalbound effort from Cue was hand-balled on the line by Ryan Henshaw who was immediately red carded by referee Chris Poole.

Cue converted the penalty into the bottom left hand corner of the net but Devereux stressed it is not always straight forward playing with an extra man.

“It’s not always made easier by the opposition going down to 10 men,” said Devereux.

“But I thought we were on top before that happened and were unlucky not to have scored a couple of times.”

The Tags stayed on top after breaking the deadlock and made it 2-0 four minutes into the second half with Carvalho on target from close range.

Town hit back two minutes from time with Moses Emmanuel on target from long range.

But Tags held on to record their second win in the space of three days, much to the delight of Devereux whose side triumphed 2-0 at Horsham on Saturday.

“I just said to the players in there that outside of our changing room that not many people would have backed up to get six points from these two games,” said Devereux.

“Horsham and Billericay are both hotly tipped to be up there this season and we’ve done really well against them.”

Tags are now seventh in the standings and Devereux is pleased with the progress being made.

“We’re quietly satisfied so far but we know we’ve got a lot of work to do and have to work hard to stay competitive,” said Devereux.

“It’s just such a tight league aside Hornchurch who are galloping at the minute.

“I think it’s six points between sixth and 16th.

“We’ve lost three games so far and we’ve done alright.

“We’ve probably drawn too many games but we know where we’re at.”

Billericay were also beaten 1-0 at Folkestone Invicta on Saturday and sit fourth in the table.