Hastings Town's promotion hopes suffered a setback when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to ten-man Folkestone Invicta.

An 84th-minute header from Steve Lawrence secured the points for a Folkestone side who had to play most of the game one man short after Billy Manuel was ordered off.

Hastings manager Dean White offered no excuses. He said: "We did not play well. We were not good enough on the day to break them down, we were too static. We did not work hard enough as a team and not enough players took enough responsibility. It was a big game for us and we blew it. I'm very disappointed."

Town are now 11 points behind the Kent club, although they have two games in hand. White said: "We needed to win, they didn't, and it's a big gap now. It's the games between the top six that will dictate who goes up at the end of the season."

Hastings never got going and Folkestone seemed content to sit back and attack on the break. The first half was devoid of incident until three minutes before the interval when Billy Manuel was sent off for a high tackle on Duncan McArthur.

The dismissal failed to rouse Hastings and they continued to struggle in the second period, although McArthur did go close with a half-volley from 30 yards. Folkestone should have taken the lead on 64 minutes when Stuart White pounced on a mistake by Steve Yates but Tony Kessell pulled off a fine save to keep out his chip.

Shaun Loft had the home side's best chance but, with the goalkeeper grounded, his shot was headed clear by former Hastings favourite Andy Larkin. The visitors snatched victory when Lawrence headed home at a corner.

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