Harlow Town’s winless run stretched to five games as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at Carshalton Athletic in the Bostik League Premier Division on Monday night.

Danny Dudley gave the hosts the lead in the first half when he powered in a header and Jacob Mendy extended the advantage after the break when he showed pace to latch onto a long ball forward, which leaves the Hawks second bottom in the league.

Yannick Kissi was recalled to the line-up in place of the injured Arinse Uade, while Bill Plumpton came in for the absent Paul Rodgers at right-back.

The hosts came out firing in the first half, giving Harlow no time to settle and forcing Cabhan Clarke into an early save when he tipped Peter Adeniyi’s shot around the post.

Carshalton had another good chance on the quarter-of-an-hour mark, but Dudley fired over from 10 yards when a free-kick was sent low into the box.

Harlow should have taken the lead shortly after when goalkeeper Patrick Ohman’s delivery cannoned off Emile Acquah, but the striker was unable to capitalise on the error with the goal at his mercy.

The home side then had another chance when Ricky Korboa played in Mendy behind the defence, and he rounded the goalkeeper but saw his effort blocked by the sliding Ugo Udoji.

Three minutes before the break, though, Carshalton did take the lead when the visiting defence switched off at a corner and allowed the unmarked Dudley to power a header into the net.

Harlow showed much more attacking promise after the break and came close to equalising, but Tom Hitchcock was just inches away from a low cross.

The second goal arrived for the hosts, however, as Mendy beat the defence to a long ball, rounded the keeper and slotted in to make the task more difficult for Harlow.

The Hawks had Clarke to thank in the final stages of the game as he produced a string of fine saves to prevent Carshalton increasing the score, with the pick of the stops coming from Korboa’s effort from the edge of the area.

He then denied Mendy on a further two occasions, firstly with a low shot from the edge of the area and then from a close-range backheel for which he had to react quickly to get down.

While Clarke’s saved kept the score down, Harlow could do nothing to get back into the game and they were handed their fourth defeat from five games.

They will next have the chance to end that run this Saturday when they host mid-table Kingstonian in a 3pm kick-off.