Harlow Town suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Northwood in the Isthmian League South Central Division on Saturday.

The struggling visitors struck twice in three minutes through Eric Lopes and Ethan Flanagan to take a 2-0 lead into the break.

Tayo Oyebola halved the deficit just minutes into the second half, but that was all Harlow could muster in reply as they fell to their fourth league defeat of the season.

Northwood had the first chance of the game when Tyrone Pink lofted the ball across to Charlie Hanford, but his effort was well kept out by Josh Bexon.

Oyebola and Terrell Egbri caused problems for Northwood on the attack and the pair combined well down the left, only for Charlie Malin to get back and make a vital tackle.

Although Harlow were looking dangerous, the visitors were defying their lowly position in the table and took the lead in stunning fashion when Lopes curled a wonderful effort past Bexon into the top corner.

As if that wasn’t enough of a surprise, Woods doubled their lead four minutes later when Flanagan was given acres of space at a corner to head home.

Danny Chapman made a change at half-time, with De’Jaune Taylor-Crossdale coming on for Elwin Lartey, and the move paid dividends straightaway and the substitute’s cross was headed home by Oyebola.

The Hawks were turning in a much-improved performance but an equaliser was evading them from the limited chances they were creating.

Christian Adu Gyamfi’s shot looked to be heading into Oyebola’s path before spinning away, and Joe Ringer in the Northwood goal was being left relatively quiet.

There was to be a final chance for Harlow at the death, but a ball into the middle managed to go all the way through without a vital touch.

Defeat keeps Harlow fourth in the table although Tooting & Mitcham and Westfield have closed the gap ahead of the Hawks’ visit to Uxbridge this weekend.