Lewes were expecting a tough afternoon’s work against the Ryman North leaders, who are unbeaten in the league this season and have averaged almost three goals per game. However the Lewes goalkeeper Rikki Banks barely got his gloves dirty as the back three batted away everything that was launched in their direction.

Almost all of the first-half chances fell to the Rooks. A 15th minute corner lofted to the back post found Luke Blewden, but the forward clanked his shot against the post, before appearing to inadvertently get in the way of Jordan Badger’s follow-up effort. Sam Crabb almost broke the deadlock moments later, after a neat one-two with Leroy Griffiths sent the wing-back scampering to the edge of the box, before he checked inside and sent a curling effort goal wards, which Harlow keeper Ed Thompson tipped around the post.

Harlow’s only real chance of the half came as a result of a Lewes lapse. Phil Appiah under hit a back pass, gifting the Hawks a rare chance to run at the back line, but Fabion Simms’ shot was smothered by Rikki Banks, with the deadly Alex Read waiting to pounce on any rebound.

If Lewes’ first-half performance had everything but the goal, they took precisely 46 second to rectify that in the second period. A woefully soft backpass gave Luke Blewden the chance to chip the ball over the marooned Harlow keeper, the ball taking what felt like a fortnight to finally cross the line as the backpedalling Thompson bundled it into the net with him.

The remainder of the game faded to a stalemate after that bright start to the second half. Harlow had a decent chance for an equaliser on the hour, as a cross from the right narrowly failed to find the lurking Alex Read in the middle. Lewes substitute Elliot Romain livened up the final 15 minutes, not least when he raced onto a delightful one-two with Nicky Wheeler and fired a powerful low drive, which was smartly saved by Thompson.

The Hawks return to League action on Monday night with a trip to Essex rivals Aveley, before a home fixture next Saturday against 2nd in the table Needham Market.