London Lions slipped to a third successive defeat in the South Midlands League Division One after going down 2-1 at Harpenden Town.
Lions made seven changes made from the 4-0 drubbing against St. Albans last weekend, but it was Harpenden keeper Matthew Lord who stole the show.
Josh Kennet and Jordan Marks both wasted early chances to fire Lions ahead in the first half and they were made to pay when Chris Ellis ghosted into space to fire Town into the lead.
Lions roared back after the break but failed to make the most of their opportunities as the Town defence stood firm.
And Tony Gold's men were made to pay as Ryan Denys took advantage of a defensive mix-up to slam the ball past Danny Berliner.
David Cohen did manage to scramble a late consolation after Lord had failed to hold TJ Keterman's fierce free-kick but that wasn't enough to prevent Lions slipping to defeat.
"Sometimes football can be a cruel game and the lads have nothing to show for a spirited and committed performance," said boss Gold.
"We gave away two terrible goals and the players showed magnificent character to fight back but with a little more luck things would have been different.
"We certainly deserved at the very least a point but at the moment nothing is going our way".
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