Hastings United 2 Wealdstone 1

WEALDSTONE boss Gordon Bartlett pulled no punches in his post-match assessment of Saturday's tame defeat, his side's second in a row.

Lee Chappell rifled the Stones ahead but a James Gray own-goal gave the hosts the impetus before Antonio Gonnella volleyed the winner.

"It was our own fault again," said the Stones manager. "In the previous game against Dover we sat back and tried to protect the lead, whereas this time we fell into the comfort zone and thought it might be a little bit too easy.

"We were easily the best side for the first half hour and should have driven on and got a few more goals. We didn't though - we took our foot off the gas and they got back into the game."

He added: "There was a lot of mediocrity out there on Saturday. No-one played badly as such, but no-one reached the heights of previous games."

Stinging criticism indeed, but Bartlett insists his young team will learn lessons from the back-to-back defeats coming off a five-match winning run.

"We've got a young, naive side at the moment," he said. "It is very much a learning curve."

Stones, who dropped a place to 10th in the Ryman Premier, saw one change for the long trip with new signing Danny Spendlove given a start at the expense of Graeme Montgomery.

The visitors dominated the first period of the match at Pilot Field and took the lead in the 20th minute, after a good run and incisive pass from midfielder Kieron Forbes allowed Lee Chappell to drill superbly past home keeper Paul Nessling.

However, Stones were then guilty of complacency and goalkeeper Sean Thomas had to be alert on two occasions as Hastings hit back.

Stones were dealt a psychological blow on the stroke of half time. A dangerous cross into the box was turned into his own net by unfortunate Stones skipper Gray.

In a game of very few clear-cut chances for both sides, United took the lead on the hour when a poor clearing header by Kieron Forbes was seized upon by Gonnella, who finished with aplomb.

David Hicks, Marvin McCoy and Montgomery were pitched into the action and it was the latter [2014] after Marvin Sordell had hit the woodwork [2014] who blew a good chance to equalise late on when he pulled a volley wide of the target.

Wealdstone: Thomas, Martin, Chap-pell, Gray (cpt, McCoy, 79), Massey, Ashe (Montgomery, 83), Forbes (Hicks, 67), O'Leary, Haule, Sordell, Spendlove.