Margate 2, Basingstoke Town 1

ERNIE Howe was disappointed his Basingstoke team failed to hold on to their lead, but he felt an away win would have been harsh on Margate, who scored twice in the last 14 minutes to steal victory.

Against one of the Nationwide South's more physical sides on Saturday, Town took the lead, against the run of play, on 35 minutes.

David Ray received Sergio Torres' pass in midfield, stole forward and unleashed a screamer from 25 yards that flew into the top-left corner.

As the clock ticked down, it looked like the wonder goal had put Town - who've lost their previous three games - back on the road to recovery.

But, just as against Weymouth the previous week, the closing stages saw the game spark into life and events conspired against Howe's men.

Town's defence were caught out in the 76th minute as Margate scored their equaliser through Che Stadhart.

Howe said: "I felt he was coming back from an offside position, but it wasn't given and you can never tell unless you have TV cameras."

Then, four minutes later, goalkeeper Scott Tarr was punished for a push on a home attacker, leading to a hotly-disputed penalty that was converted by Adrian Clarke to give Margate the three points.

Howe reflected afterwards: "The situations were very similar to those we've seen in recent games.

"We were caught out twice down the middle. For the penalty, the lads said no-one touched him, but you expect to hear excuses.

"It was disappointing not to have held on, but, if I am being honest, we didn't deserve to win the game.

"Up until we scored, they had the better of things and were another physical side we struggled to cope with.

"We had some good possession in the second half, but couldn't make it count."

Howe added: "That's four defeats in a row now and it's just not happening for us at the moment. It's clear I have to do something this week about getting new players in."

It was Tarr's last game before his ban for the sending-off against Weymouth - and there was nearly a repeat of that incident in the first half.

Tarr was again faced with a one-on-one and caught the attacking player - but only a booking resulted.

Howe said: "I certainly felt Scott was very lucky to stay on. But we do have a goalkeeping problem now, as he's banned and Mark Zawadski is injured.

"I may well have to go and get a goalkeeper this week, because our game against Eastbourne on Saturday is very important."

Basingstoke Town: Scott Tarr, Brett Cooper, Neville Stamp, Jason Bristow, Ricky Allaway, David Ray, Cristian Levis, Sergio Torres, Martin Whiddett, Neville Roach, German De La Vega. Subs (not used): Scott Smith, Jamie McClurg, Ryan Stephens, Nathan Stamp, Liam Castle.