Hanwell Town's run of poor results, which has seen them go six games without a win, continued on Tuesday night when they were beaten 1-0 at Hertford Town, writes Bob Fisher.
In contrast, Hertford are unbeaten in five under new player manager Pablo Ardiles, the son of former Tottenham legend Ossie, who watched from the sidelines.
On a difficult uneven playing surface it was clear from the start that the game was unlikely to be a classic. To their credit both sides tried to play passing football but too often, an odd bounce brought promising moves to an end.
With defences dominating, neither goalkeeper had a serious save to make in the opening 30 minutes until Blaise O'Brien's lob over Hertford keeper Lee Robinson missed the target.
Two minutes before the interval, Hertford scored what proved to be the decisive goal of the game when a good move down the right flank gave Jamie Abbott the opportunity to cross the ball into the goalmouth where the unmarked Attila Korsovecki had a simple task to turn the ball past Keiron Jimmy from close range.
Town almost equalised three minutes into the half when, from a Jason Tucker corner, Gulad Adan headed firmly goalwards but Robinson made a crucial save with his feet at the far post.
Ten minutes later, a game played in an excellent spirit was slightly marred when Hertford's Glen Draper was sent off for a rash twofooted tackle on James Duncan which resulted in Duncan having to limp from the fray minutes later.
Any hopes Town had of making their one man advantage count quickly evaporated, however, as Hertford took control.
Town will be hoping to get their promotion challenge back on track this Saturday (3pm) against Holmer Green at home.
