Harrow Borough suffered their first Southern League Premier Division South defeat of the season as they lost 3-1 at leaders Poole Town.

Harry Baker, Marvin Brooks and Luke Holmes put Poole into an unassailable 3-0 lead, while Excellence Muhemba’s stoppage-time effort at least salvaged something for Borough.

The visitors found themselves with a mountain to climb after just four minutes when Corby Moore’s corner eventually fell to Baker after Borough failed to clear, and he fired home on the turn.

Harrow’s heads didn’t drop though, and their immediate response was to fire two fierce efforts at Poole keeper Luke Cairney. However, Frank Keita and then George Moore were both denied by the stopper.

The two sides then traded chances just before the break, Keita curling wide after a neat one-two with Michael Bryan and then Hafed Al-Droubi rushed out to deny Baker.

After Harrow continued to dominate in the second half, Poole made a double substitution and that seemed to settle them down. Al-Droubi was once again forced off his line to deny Baker as the hosts looked to affirm their advantage.

It took until the 79th minute, but they finally did that when Baker pulled the ball back for Crooks to finish from close range, and they shortly had a third when Holmes beat two defenders and lifted the ball smartly over Al-Droubi.

The three-goal margin was harsh on Borough, so it seemed only fair that they got some reward late on when Muhemba scored his first competitive goal for the club.

Next up for Borough is their second game against Beaconsfield Town in three matches tomorrow night, this time in the league where they will look to put right the cup defeat suffered against Beaconsfield last week.