Despite a valiant effort, Harlow Town’s winless streak continued into an eighth straight game as they lost 4-3 at home to Margate.

The loss confirms the Hawks’ position at the bottom of the Bostik League Premier Division, nine points shy of survival.

Scott Davies, Tom Hitchcock and Matt Foy were on target for the home side but Tobi Sho-Silva’s hat-trick along with a James Rogers penalty won the game for Margate.

In an opening period short of chances, the visitors came the closest when a long-range effort from Tom Mills was parried away by Josh Bexon.

Bexon then created Harlow’s first opening, racing out to punt clear from Josh Urquhart’s weak backpass which fell straight to Davies. He then found Hitchcock whose shot was deflected into Foy’s path but his effort was well saved by Kleton Perntreou.

Harlow did, then, take the lead after 26 minutes when Davies produced an excellent free-kick from 20 yards that curled into the bottom corner.

It didn’t take long for Margate to level proceedings though, as Rogers slotted in from the penalty spot after Jordy Robins was fouled in the area.

There was another scare for Harlow shortly after as Bexon confidently came out of his box to deal with a bouncing ball, and despite it striking him on the arm, the referee awarded his just a yellow card after debating with his assistant.

Just three minutes had been played of the second half when Margate completed the turnaround. Sho-Silva saw a header from Ben Swift bounce favourably into his path and the striker made no mistake, finishing into the bottom right corner.

After an hour, Harlow showed their resolve and managed to restore parity. Chris Gregan won the ball back after a quick throw didn’t work out and played in Davies who crossed for Hitchcock to squeeze in his 14th goal of the season.

Margate kept composed though and regained their lead just two minutes later when Sho-Silva, once again unmarked, headed low into the net from close range.

With the pressure off having already been relegated, Harlow were free to express themselves and the fluidity of their play was creating some good openings for them, something that has rarely been seen this season.

Foy was the next to take advantage of his opportunity, cutting through the visiting defence before finishing past Perntreou to level it up at 3-3.

Ultimately though, Harlow are bottom of the table for a reason, which is their inability to keep goals out, and they conceded a fourth six minutes after Foy’s equaliser when Sho-Silva raced onto Bexon’s parry to complete his hat-trick.

Margate substitute Noel Leighton came close to adding a fifth late on, but Bexon stood strong to make the one-on-one save and preserve the 4-3 scoreline.

It was certainly an eventful way to end the season but the loss only made the table more bad reading for Harlow, who finished the season bottom of the table with nine wins, seven draws and 26 losses to their name.