HILLINGDON Borough coach Jason O’Connor blamed an inexperienced back-four for his side's heavy defeat to Hanwell Town.
Boro are without their two first-choice centre-backs and struggled to keep things tight as they shipped four against one of the title favourites.
It was a fourth loss in five after Hanwell added three second half goals to Tom Duffy’s opener on Tuesday night.
O'Connor said: “No-one could have imagined both our first choice centre backs being injured for the beginning of the season.
“But as we haven’t got a reserve side so the only place the young players can learn is in the first team. They’ll make mistakes and we’ve got to try and support them as they are learning.”
Hillingdon tried to play offside from a Lewis Ochoa free kick but the ploy failed and Duffy had time to check for a linesman’s flag before passing it into the net for the opener.
Kyle Watson should have added another but saw his shot blocked by Luke Dennison.
In the second half, Hanwell Town showed a clinical edge that had been missing in the first period.
First, Chisum Diorgu headed an Ochoa corner before Ochoa once again provided the chance for Watson to fire home from a tight angle.
Ochoa then added a goal of his own a minute later, converting a one on one chance from just inside the area.
Asked about what happened in the build-up to the first goal, manager Sam Hurrell said that the attempted tactical manoeuvre had been practice for Saturday’s FA Cup match against Daventry.
He added: “We know that they’ve got some big players so we’re trying to work on a system to nullify that threat. Tonight it didn’t come off but we’re hopeful we’ll learn for Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Fleming grabbed a hat-trick in a big win for Phil Granville's Harefield United at home to London Colney.
