THE Stones were beaten convincingly in their home league match against league leaders Bath City but were let down by the non-appearance of goalkeeper, Lee Carroll.

The pack had to be reshuffled hastily and Ben Martin, returning from injury, was called upon to wear the keeper's jersey. Mitch Swain had been called up but arrived ten minutes into the match having left work. Mitch put on his gloves in the second half but by then the damage had been well and truly done and stones were 0-4 down.

An already difficult task on a blustery afternoon was clearly made twice as challenging and Bath sensed blood from the kick-off and ripped into a positionally unbalanced and mentally unfit stones side. Indeed Stones were on the back foot for most of the half and it was the midfield that was the weakest area of play. Donnelly struggled without the suspended O'Leary to win the ball.

New signing from St Albans, the experienced Simon Martin, partnered Theo Robinson up front and will look the part once he has settled into the team over one or two games. Top scorer Dean Papali must feel a little miffed to be on the bench but his time will come soon as bright spark Theo cannot remain in the side forever. Both Martin and Robinson worked hard but were fed scraps all afternoon and there were painfully few chances presented.

Unfortunately, Monty had one of his off days and sadly lacked penetration down the left flank and had a frustrating afternoon.

For the record, Bath City scored first on 16 mins with good forward play, and again in the 25th, 31st and 43rd minutes and Ben Martin was not responsible for any of them. Lee Chappell, however, may well have been but he is an honest player and always gives of his best - sadly this is not always good enough.

The second half saw Wealdstone restore some pride and the goal difference was not worsened. Carbon came on and contributed well, as did new signing from Scottish football, Lord Kanda, who looked good in the midfield.

Dean Clark did his best with a weak penalty kick that the competent Bath keeper read easily and saved.