Wealdstone 1 Harlow Town 2

There was nowhere for Wealdstone to hide on Saturday as Harlow Town made a mockery of their lowly league position to plunder three vital points at Grosvenor Vale and dent the home side's play-off aspirations.

Lee Chappell's tenth-minute strike was swiftly cancelled out by Shaun Gliddon, before Sean Thomas pulled off what is becoming a customary penalty save to deny Mark Taylor on the stroke of half time.

However Harlow, with just one win in their last five trips, pinned Stones back after the interval and got a deserved winner when Sam Berry pounced on a loose ball ten minutes from time.

It may have been Valentine's Day but the result did little to warm the hearts of the Stones faithful or manager Gordon Bartlett.

"We were poor - there is no other way of putting it," he said. "Whether it was down to having a couple of weeks without a game I don't know. We didn't have any drive or determination."

Bartlett was furious that none of his starting XI stood up to be counted but is sure to stand by them as the games, both league and cup, continue to come thick and fast.

"Each and every player in the side played poorly and they know that.

"We've had a bad day at the office but it is about how we react to it that is important. If performances like this once become a habit then that is when it starts to become a concern."

Without the suspended Greg Ngoyi, Bartlett opted to pair skipper James Gray up front with Davis Haule. Lee Chappell and Darren Locke were restored to the starting line up after injury.

On a boggy surface, Stones started brightly with Kieron Forbes and Gray making nuisances out of themselves. Chappell then broke the deadlock with a sweetlystruck free-kick, which bamboozled Hawks keeper James Hasell as he fixed his sights on Ryan Ashe, who had shaped to shoot.

However, Stones shot themselves in the foot from the restart when Harlow charged through the middle before Gliddon smashed home the ball after Thomas had parried a shot into his path.

Despite the muddy conditions, the game flowed from end to end with Gray wasting his side's best chance to regain the lead, firing wide from a tight angle after rounding Hasell. Forbes then failed to add the finishing touch to some crisp play that left Harlow chasing shadows.

The Hawks were then awarded a penalty five minutes before the break but

Thomas, having mimicked former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar's infamous 'spaghetti legs' to gain a pyschological edge, flung himself to keep out Taylor's spot kick. That merely served to spur on the visitors and they threatened to overrun Stones in the second half with some intense attacking.

Ian Hilaire and Ben Clarke replaced Haule and Gray respectively with 20 minutes to go but Harlow's dogged persistence paid off when Berry curled the ball beyond Thomas in the final stages.

* Wealdstone: Thomas, McCoy, Chappell, Locke, Massey, Ashe, Forbes, O'Leary, Haule, Gray, Spendlove.