Giles Dakin believes East Grinstead have sent out a message to the rest of the league with their perfect start to the season.

Grinstead made it four wins out of four with a 4-3 defeat of Beeston yesterday to consolidate top spot in National premier two.

Captain Dakin, whose side are chasing a second successive promotion, reckons the fear factor will now play a part when other teams face Grinstead.

Dakin said: "If someone had said at the start of the season we would win our first four, I would have taken that.

"This was always going to be a tough encounter against Beeston. They are certainly one of the stronger sides in the league although their league position at the moment might not reflect that. They have some quality players and that was a good performance by us to beat them.

"We are confident now. A lot of the other teams will have looked at the eight goals that we put past Southgate last week and then this result and they will be scared of us.

"We are the ones that have got to mess up now. We are at the top and it is up to everybody else to try to make the grade."

Beeston provided Grinstead with their toughest test yet but they came through it despite a few hiccups.

They were flying early on thanks to two goals by Ben Payne but their indiscipline let the visitors from Nottingham back into the game.

Payne opened the scoring with a close-range finish after just five minutes following good work from Ashley Jackson and Dillet Gilkes.

The lead was doubled six minutes later when Payne scored with a delightful reverse stick strike after wrong-footing his marker.

At that stage a cricket score looked possible but a string of poor umpiring decisions seemed to rile Grinstead and Beeston took advantage with Adam Dixon scoring twice from short corners to level the scores at half-time.

Beeston sensed they might become the first side to take points off Grinstead this season but the hosts knuckled down in the second half and regained the lead four minutes after the restart when Dwain Quan Chan somehow engineered space for himself to send a thunderous shot flying past the Beeston keeper.

Player-coach Kwan Browne was in unstoppable form when he had the ball and teenager Jackson showed flashes of brilliance, so it was no surprise when they made it 4-2 with five minutes remaining.

Gilkes beat a defender for pace down the right and crossed for Payne, who still had plenty to do but made it look easy with a smart finish to complete his hat-trick.

Tom Sherratt swept in a third for Beeston with two minutes remaining but Grinstead deservedly held on.

Dakin said: "We lost a bit of discipline towards the end of the first half. There were a couple of decisions that went their way that they scored from.

"It is all part of the game but we need to be more professional, keep our mouths shut and get on with it rather than try to alter the umpire's decision after he has made it.

"That said, it really does seem like we can score at any moment. Our corner routines are looking good and we have the players who are going to create chances. We are just looking to shore things up at the back a little."

The pleasing thing for Grinstead was the all-round contribution of the team.

Mike Holland turned in his best performance of the season at the back and Mark Justice showed a willingness up front which wore Beeston down.

Dakin added: "The strength of the squad as a whole is really fantastic. We have picked up two or three players this year and it seems to be gelling together nicely. We know if two or three players have to come off we still have the quality to come on."