The fine line between Southern League Premier Division success and failure was all too evident again at ProEdge Westwood Road yesterday.

St Ives Town were undone by a momentary lapse of concentration when succumbing to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of play-off chasing Weymouth.

Ricky Marheineke’s men slipped to second bottom in the standings as a result of a 12th loss in their opening 15 league games. They have failed to add their solitary success which was gained at Weymouth on the opening day of the campaign.

Another positive result against the Dorset outfit looked highly likely as Saints led for almost three-quarters of the wind-ravaged return clash thanks to a Ben Seymour-Shove tap-in which was crafted by James Hall after a quarter-of-an-hour.

Creator very nearly turned goalscorer as Hall volleyed against the post later in the opening period, but Saints were unable to manage another breakthrough on an afternoon when the other two players to find the net were both visiting substitutes.

Josh Wakefield levelled with 20 minutes to go and then delivered the cross from which fellow replacement Harry Baker headed an 89th minute winner after Saints switched off at a quickly-taken corner.

“We’re talking about very small margins again,” said Marheineke. “We had to send two men out to stop the short corner.

“I’m shouting at the lads from the dugout to get it done, but there was no-one on the pitch who took responsibility. That is the sort of thing that gets punished against good teams.

“We didn’t make a key decision quickly enough and as a result of that we are looking at another defeat rather than an excellent draw.

“The fact we have only picked up five points from our first 15 games is a huge disappointment to everyone.

“But the aim was to put in a performance that the chairman, directors and supporters could be proud about and we did that.

“If I could rewind back to the start of the season and do certain things differently, I obviously would.

“But we know that if we can reach this level of performance on a regular basis, we will start picking up points.

“Everyone is in this together. The satisfaction of turning it around is what is driving us on.”

Saints lost skipper Charlie De’Ath to an injury sustained in the warm-up and further aggravated during a challenge in the opening half. That led to striker Danny Kelly being deployed in defence for much of the game.

Saints return to action on Tuesday with a trip to Biggleswade Town.