HARLOW Town suffered a heavy home defeat on the first day of the season, going down 5-1 to Hutton.

This was Harlow’s first league game back since last season was curtailed.

So we felt it would not be fair to condemn the team this early on. There is a lot of adjusting to do in this new era.

However 429 paying punters turned up hoping to see the first steps on a new journey. Well they did but it may take a while before Harlow find their feet. We are not sure many fans will wait around to find out.

Both team started off tentatively with some good play interspersed with unforced errors and aimless clearances.

But it was important to remember that this was Step 6 and you had to adjust your expectations. That may be unfair on players at this level.

There were positive signs from Harlow. Players such as Alex Yearwood looked busy and full of intent. Gavin Cockman had presence and skipper James Folkes seemed to be marshalling his defence.

The first goal for Hutton came in the 21st minute, scored by Andrew Webster and it was to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Nobody did anything spectacularly wrong it was just that Hutton players were given time, space and freedom.

Having said that, Harlow’s equaliser was well deserved with Jake Davis firing into the roof of the net in the 33rd minute.

The first half ended with Harlow starting to look like a team. You thought they might have a sold base here. We were wrong.

The second half was a disaster for Harlow Town. Midfielder Stephen Judge scored three times in the 63rd, 75th and a penalty in the 88th. Judge will know that all he did was find space and do the rest.

To be fair to Hutton, they stuck to their task and were well organised. There were a few of their players carrying a bit of timber but they kept going and going.

This was a newly promoted team that had a great run last year. They were simply taking up where they left off. Much praise to Hutton.

As for Harlow, they will look back at this and see so many unforced errors and speculative hoofs and hope/know that they are better than that. Some players may have to look in a mirror and say “No.. This is more or less the best I can do”.

Players will look to their fitness levels and realise how far they have to go.

Of course, Hutton could be the best team they will face all season. On the other hand……

Manager Danny Chapman cut a frustrated figure all afternoon and even got a yellow card for his troubles.

He will no doubt sit down and assess how many of these players can take this team forward.

There is clearly an appetite to see competitive football at the Pardus Arena and they will want people to come back.

We all knew that starting from scratch was and is a big ask and will take a while to adjust.

“Long is the way and hard that lets up to light” said the 17th century writer, John Milton. Wonder if he is available for Dunmow on Tuesday night?

Details of results, tables and fixtures are below.

First Division South Table

https://www.harlowtownfootballclub.co.uk