Harlow Town lost in the Isthmian League South Central Division for the first time since September as Bracknell Town scored three times in the last 15 minutes.

The Hawks were on a run of five straight wins in the league and were on course for at least maintaining their unbeaten run at the break when they went in at 0-0, but Owen James, Nathan Minhas and Sebastien Bowerman all converted late on to give the visitors the win.

Early saves from Josh Bexon asserted that this was by no means going to be an easy afternoon for Harlow, but they held the majority of the possession in the first half.

What they did with that possession wasn’t too effective though, as their only real chance of the opening period came right before the break when Ozzy Adenji fired wide.

Harlow continued to hold most of the ball in the second half and Adenji was again guilty of missing the target when he headed wide from a set-piece delivery.

Daniel Brown almost broke the deadlock, only to see Bexon somehow get down to his low drive, but in the 75th minute the first goal did finally arrive when Max Herbert fed the ball through perfectly for James to curl into the far corner.

Any hope of restoring parity was wiped out within three minutes as Bracknell extended their advantage when James turned provider this time, teeing up Minhas to power home.

The Hawks tried to force the issue in the final 12 minutes but Bracknell were coping well with the aerial assault, and they made the most of Harlow pushing too many forward in stoppage time when they raced up the other end and won a penalty, which was converted with ease by Bowerman after Minhas was bumped over.

Despite the loss, Harlow remain second in the table, but they are now four points of Hanwell Town having played a game more.