2 weeks on from their previous fixture, there was always a slight fear that the Hawks may go into their league game against St Margaretsbury lacking match sharpness.

With pressure to get three points coming from sole title rivals Hackney Wick, who recently found themselves top of the table for the first time in 3 months after their recent win over Rayleigh Town, Harlow Town needed to win to regain their top spot, and they did in emphatic style, with their goal difference pushing them above the “Wick” as it stands.

It has to be said that the St Margaretsbury side were extremely poor on the day, offering almost no threat going forward whatsoever, but Harlow were excellent in front of goal, ensuring that they were out of sight early on in the game, and this allowed Danny Chapman to rotate his side for the second half and secure what would go on to be a 0-5 victory.

The opener arrived just six minutes into the game, after Denzel Effah’s marvellous turn allowed him to fizz it into the box. St Mags’ keeper Alfie Brennan spilled the cross straight into a lurking Gavin Cockman, who tapped it home.

The defence of the home side were simply all over the place when Harlow grabbed their second goal just two minutes after their first. It came from a Harlow set piece, that Tom Jelliman whipped into the box; it was headed on by Fabion Simms into his centre-back partner James Folkes, who sweetly struck a volley into the back of the net from 18 yards to double the advantage. Alfie Brennan had rushed out to try to punch away the free-kick and left his goal gaping, and so the Hawks’ captain had the entire goal to aim at.

Things went from bad to worse for St Margaretsbury after Denzel Effah delivered a corner into the box, and a complete blunder meant that the ball trickled into their own net off of what looked like Alfie Brennan, the goalkeeper. Harlow lead by 3.

At this point, Harlow were loving life, running away with the game and it was beginning to be a question of how many they would score. Terrell Egbri epitomised this when he played a fantastic one-two with Tom Jelliman before using excellent strength to move a St Margaretsbury player out of the way, proceeding to cut it back to Ishaq Ameen, who is always hungry for goals. The striker smashed it home with panache to make it 0-4.

Just minutes later, and in search of his second goal in quick succession, Ishaq Ameen received the ball over-the-top but took the shot on early and dragged it wide.

St Margaretsbury had one of their few chances of the game go amiss after Freddie Wilkinson’s header flew over the bar from a whipped-in free-kick.

Harlow netted what would be their final goal of the game towards the end of the first half, when Dan Heald hit a sensational ball over-the-top which Gavin Cockman touched down beautifully before his shot was saved by Brennan straight back into his path and, on the second effort, there was no chance of a miss from Gavin, putting the game beyond any doubt.

Syrus Gordon left the field injured towards the end of the opening 45 minutes, and was replaced by Arley Barker.

Mistakes continued to flow for the home side when Ishaq Ameen’s fairly tame effort was spilled by Brennan, but luckily for him it bounced out for a corner.

The second half was a slightly different state of affairs as Harlow undoubtedly reduced the fiery pressure that was ever-present throughout the first half. Despite this, St Margaretsbury still never even slightly threatened the Harlow goal and the Hawks were still much the better side in possession.

The first chance of the half came for Harlow after Tom Jelliman curled a free-kick into the box, where James Folkes headed it over the bar.

With the win already in the bag, Danny Chapman opted for early changes in the second half, bringing off Gavin Cockman for Fred Agyemang, Tom Jelliman for Korede Da Silva, and Terrell Egbri for Jack Haley. It seems that the Hawks’ manager may have had our upcoming game against Hackney Wick in mind with those substitutions.

Teddy Jones was also introduced in place of Dan Heald after a lengthy period on the sidelines, and it was fantastic to see him out playing once again.

St Margaretsbury went onto have their best attacking spell of the game, but the net result of this was a couple of unthreatening attempts that James Pellin clinched onto.

James Folkes’ centre-back partner Fabion Simms was the next one to head over the bar from a set piece, but this time from a corner.

In search of glory, Arley Barker tried to hit what would’ve been a stunning goal, attempting to curl an effort into the top-left corner from just outside the box. It was a strong attempt, but failed to hit the target.

It really should have been 0-6 in the dying moments of the game when Ishaq Ameen was picked out terrifically by James Love, who showed amazing vision. Ishaq ran through on goal, but his lobbed effort was tipped over the bar by Brennan, his best moment of the game in the St Margaretsbury goal by a country mile.

Overall, it was a solid performance by the Hawks’ who emerged comfortable winners against a side that proved to be of a much lower degree of skill when compared to Chapman’s side, which showed throughout the game by the Harlow dominance, with the home side failing to even get a singer corner, whereas Harlow had 15.

The win pushes Harlow Town back to the top of the Thurlow Nunn Division One South ahead of title rivals Hackney Wick on goal difference, with both the sides having equal records, sitting on 73 points – they will face each other this Saturday in what looks to be an absolute blockbuster clash.

We thank you for your fantastic continued support, which was clear to see once again in this local derby game, and we hope to see as many of you as possible this Saturday away at Hackney Wick, a game that we certainly need to get behind the boys in.