Wealdstone dropped another two important points as two games in as many days left them sluggish in their 1-1 draw with Concord Rangers last night.

The first-half belonged to the visitors but it was not until well into the second period they took the lead, when 22 minutes from time Taylor Miles’ cross snuck in off the far post.

Before that, Aryan Tajbakhsh had been given a straight, perhaps harsh red card for an elbow on James White, and it was with 10 men that they played their best football.

Matty Whichelow’s cameo from the bench was boosted with a 25-yard thunderbolt to level up, but a six-point gap to fifth-placed Hungerford – who have a game in hand – could prove too much to bridge with seven games to go.

After a performance that Bartlett was pleased with but a result he wasn’t on Saturday, he kept faith with the same starting line-up, leaving top scorer Elliot Benyon, returning from injury, benched for a third straight game.

The Stones were not rolling in the opening stages as the strain of two games in barely 48 hours took its toll, and Concord Rangers came close to striking first inside the first 20 minutes.

The hosts needed a combination of goalkeeper Jonathan North and Elliott Godfrey to clear one goal-bound effort on the line after 10 minutes.

Tom Hamblin then timed a block superbly to keep Delle-Verde’s deflected effort from falling for the Beach Boys’ front men.

But the visitors were close to more Good Vibrations when Eddie Oshodi’s perfectly timed block flattened Jordan Chiedozie as the striker looked to tap home Dion Sembie-Ferris’ pass from the right.

The best chance of the half would fall to the hosts despite spending most of it under the cosh. Joe White was released and showed his electric pace to nip in behind the visiting defence.

But Bailey Vose got down well to smother his shot, before getting to his feet to hold Ricky Wellard’s 25-yard follow up when well off his line.  Delle-Verde looked easily the visitors’ best player before the break and could have grabbed the opener with seconds to go, drifting outside of Sam Cox with a fine stepover before his shot was at North, who had to gather at the second attempt due to its sheer power.

Gordon Bartlett may have been thinking ‘God only knows’ how his side had produced such a limp performance on the back of 11 games undefeated - but they showed their mettle from the off after the interval.

Wellard’s darting run into the box saw his shot from the left fizz past the far post within three minutes of the restart, before Green fired over from a similar position.

Concord were still capable of Getting Around, though, and came close when Delle-Verde’s corner on the hour was sliced goal wards by Andrius Laucys, and cleared off the line at the back post by Wellard.

The game had been fairly dicey to this point, with four Concord players booked by referee Matthew Buonassisi. It was Wealdstone, however, who would feel the real impact of the official's pocket.

When challenging for an aerial ball with visiting captain James White, Aryan Tajbakhsh was adjudged to have led with his elbow, and Buonassisi’s mind was instantly made up as he showed the Crawley loanee a straight red.

More bad news followed after the hosts had half cleared a corner to Miles. He returned the ball into the box, only for it to rebound off the far post and deceive North before trickling over the line.

Whichelow made a welcome return from injury with 21 minutes to go, replacing Danny Green, with the Stones lacking creativity in midfield as they pushed for an equaliser.

Ben White headed wide moments later before Concord substitute Tony Stokes should have put the game beyond doubt from the next attack, but directed his diving header straight at North.

Elliot Benyon was also introduced with 16 minutes to go as Gordon Bartlett threw caution to the wind and changed formation to 3-4-2, but with limited time to find their equaliser, Wes Parker’s header over the bar from a Wellard corner looked like it might prove fatal to their chances.

But with seven minutes remaining, from a rare composed home attack, Eddie Oshodi came under pressure from the energetic visiting midfield but just had time to poke the ball inside towards Whichelow.

The substitute took a touch before firing in a vicious effort from 25 yards that Vose should have, but could not keep out for a fortunate equaliser.

Fellow replacement Danny Wright had a shot blocked as the hosts eyed an unlikely winner, and in the final minute of injury time Hamblin directed a header straight at Vose from Wellard’s free-kick.

Wealdstone: North; Oshodi, Hamblin, Parker, Sellers; Godfrey (Benyon 74), Cox; Wellard, Tajbakhsh, Green (Whichelow 68); White (Wright 87).

Not used: Mavila, Brown.