Hanwell Town went down to an acrimonious defeat at the Powerday Stadium against a Taunton Town squad that had as much to play for as the Geordies did, both teams being solidly perched in mid-table.
Hanwell found it hard going right from the off, looking a bit out of sorts and lethargic, the Peacocks winning most of the early exchanges.
All the hard work that the Geordies had put in early was undone on 30 minutes, when Zebroski met Feltham's cross at the back post to hit the ball past keeper Sam Beasant from close range.
Hanwell started then to create chances but weren't able to level the score before the half time break.
After half time, the Geordies were starting to get into the game when after a loose tackle by Nielsen, Dwayne Duncan's verbal annoyance at the heaviness of the challenge on him was seen a dissent worthy of a red card by the match referee, much to the puzzlement of many within the ground.
Hanwell reorganised and started to make a much better showing, restricting the visitors to half chances. With about 15 minutes to go, Hanwell created their best chances, Mat MacKenzie’s shot on goal having to be scrambled off the line, all after he'd hit the bar with a header.
The Geordies made changes to stiffen the midfield but it all came to naught, as almost immediately, a high foot by Callum Woodcock was seen as dangerous play and so the referee decided to air his red card again.
Deep into the somewhat excessive 10 minutes of additional time, Taunton wrapped the game up.
Midfielder Nielsen caught Hanwell on the break, being short of numbers at the back as they tried to secure an equaliser. His pass inside found substitute Brain, who curled his shot into the net, past Beasant, from the edge of the penalty area, to leave the Geordies feeling hard done-by come the final whistle.
Post match, manager Chris Moore wasn't impressed by the performance by the Hanwell team.
He said: “We were better with nine men, we dug in and hit the bar twice. I was really happy with the way they rolled up their sleeves and never gave up. In the second half, we asked for more energy from the boys and got it from those nine men.
One thing that pleased Moore was the debut of QPR Academy player Ridwan Hassan in the second half.
“Ridwan has been another that QPR have entrusted to us, signing on deadline day, but had been injured. You could see he's a bit of a livewire and we look forward to seeing what he can do.”
Hanwell have two matches left of their season, making a visit to Chertsey Town on Bank Holiday Monday and then wrapping it all up with the final game, home to Plymouth Parkway on Saturday 26th.
Hanwell Town
1 Sam Beasant, 2 Joe Wilson, 3 Dan Carr, 4 Roberto Nditi, 5 Dwayne Duncan, 6 Harry Seabrook, 7 Taylor Miles (Callum Woodcock 72’), 8 Mat MacKenzie, 9 Alfie Pendlebury (Kameron English 87’), 10 Chris Regis (Ryan Cole 89’), 11 Joe Waight (Ridwan Hassan 54’).
Substitutes
12 Ryan Cole, 14 Ridwan Hassan, 15 Kameron English, 16 Callum Woodcock, 17 Will Hall.
