TIMES look bleak for the Millers as they slumped to their fourth home defeat of the season against Harrow Borough.
In truth the home side were made to pay for some missed chances and Boro’s front line punished the goal shy hosts twice after losing possession in the middle of the park.
Aveley missed decent opportunities in the opening period with Kurt Smith seeing his close range shot come back off the bar before the Millers failed to take advantage of visiting keeper Nick Jupp poor clearance to Smith, who found David Knight but his shot lacked height to lob the keeper who managed to make up for the error by diverting it clear.
On a couple of occasions the visitors went close through left back Ryan Watts, especially with a free kick that fizzed just wide of the target.
Josh Lleweyn showed promise for the hosts with a mazy run into the box two minutes before the interval but Jupp came out well and smothered the effort.
After the break the home side continued to have opportunities in front of goal as Abs Thompson broke away from the defence, pouncing on a loose ball with Jupp forced to tip the effort over the bar and behind for a corner.
Knight’s corner in from the right fell to Sean Francis at the back post but his header only found the side netting on 68 minutes
And a minute later Harrow took the lead with a clinical finish from Troy Hewitt as he got on the end of Kenta Nakashima’s cross, turning and shooting past McCartney to break the deadlock.
Alan Kimble tried to change things round with substitutions for the home side but made little inroads as the Boro defence remained unbroken.
Sub Andrew Mensah had an opportune moment to double the visitors lead after weaving his way in between several home defender before firing a shot straight at McCartney.
Coming into the game off the back of a 2-0 loss in the first round of the FA Cup against Chesterfield, they sealed all three points as the Millers conceded possession in their own half and a simple ball through found Dewayne Clarke who slotted coolly past McCartney with six minutes remaining.
Aveley: Dave McCartney, Spencer Harrison, Andrew Howell, Tony Russell, Emmanuel Udoji, Sean Francis, David Knight, Nathan Ashton, Kurt Smith, Abs Thompson (Matt Judge 70), Josh Llewellyn (Luke Stanley 82).
Subs not used: Danny Brown, Darren Quinton, Danny Slatter.
