Ryman League Premier Division club Wealdstone have added to their squad with the signing of forward Joe Stevens from Ryman Division One North side Ware.

Stevens, 22, has been a regular within the well regarded Ware team that has recently broken up following the departure of their manager to Harlow Town.

The former Ware youth player has scored thirty-seven goals from 122 first-team appearances, and played alongside current Stones` player Danny Spendlove last season.

Wealdstone boss Gordon Bartlett said: “Joe will give us more options in the forward areas. He is in the process of recovering from injury and will need some time to get fully fit. He will be an excellent addition to the squad.”

Stevens played for Wealdstone reserves last Saturday and was on the scoresheet in their 3-2 win over Chalfont St Peter at The Vale.

Carshalton Athletic boss Hayden Bird admits his side’s Ryman Premier promotion dreams are likely to prove just that - unless the Robins start winning at home.

Bird’s men suffered their sixth home defeat of the season on Saturday as they crashed 2-0 to local rivals Sutton United at Colston Avenue.And the Robins manager accepted it is something he needs to sort - and fast.

Bird said: “It is very frustrating.

“Our home form is just not good enough.

“In fact, it is a credit to our away form that we are still up there challenging.

“It is the exact opposite of what normally happens - our results at home are hit and miss and away we are the best of the league.

“But when we don’t win at home we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win our next away game, and that is a pressure we don’t need.

“I am convinced that if we sort out our home form, we will make the play-offs.”

Carshalton gave precious little to warm their fans in a crowd of over 1,000 on a bitterly cold day against Sutton.

And Bird was less than satisfied with his side’s display.

He added: “I don’t think we turned up for 45 minutes.

“In the second half I thought we pinned them back for spells, but they hit us on the break.

“I cannot complain about the result - they did the ugly things better than us and they stopped us playing.”

The Sutton defeat was the second time this season that Carshalton have misfired in front of a bumper home crowd, having lost to Dover earlier in the campaign.

And Bird expects his charges to learn their lesson.

He added: “When we played Dover they had a better mentality to playing in a big game and again against Sutton our younger players struggled with the atmosphere.

“They didn’t play their normal game and we were punished.

“It is little consolation now but it is part of the learning curve for them.”

Blue Square Premier outfit Rushden & Diamonds have announced the signing of Heybridge Swifts striker Neil Cousins.

Cousins started his career in the Essex Senior League with Burnham Ramblers, moving on to Maldon and then Braintree Town.

He joined Heybridge Swifts in 2002, then moving to Billericay in 2004, and returning to Heybridge in 2005.

Cousins spent much of last season sidelined with a lengthy injury, however he has impressed this season at the Swifts, scoring six goals in eighteen appearances.

Margate are reportedly set to sign defender Liam Harwood from League One side Bristol Rovers.

The centre back is believed to be in talks with the Blues today about a one-month loan (Friday) and could make his debut for the club in the clash with Harlow Town on Saturday.

Harwood signed for Bristol Rovers in the summer from Ryman Premier side Carshalton, having impressed Rovers boss Paul Trollope during training at the end of last season.

He subsequently signed a one-year deal at the Memorial Stadium but has struggled to make an impression on the first team at Rovers so far this season, and hopes to gain some valuable experience while at Hartsdown Park.

The Bristol Rovers club website claim the loan move is for an initial one-month period and officially starts on Friday.

Harlow Town chairman Simon Morgan has said he has every faith in player-manager Ryan Kirby, despite seeing the Hawks slip to their sixth Ryman League Premier Division defeat in a row last Tuesday night.

The Hawks' dreadful run continued against second-bottom Hendon and they have now picked up just one point from a possible twenty-one in their last seven games and sit just above the relegation zone.

However, Morgan is confident that Kirby is the right man to turn the club's fortunes around.

"We are all disappointed but we have not played terribly. We are just leaking goals and that's something we need to work to resolve.

"It's a worrying time but I'm confident Ryan will pull us out of it.

"We have got a capable manager who works very hard and a capable squad and we will see improvement."

Morgan is happy for Kirby to continue juggling his managerial duties with his playing role.

"The problem is he is our manager and one of our best players," he said. "He doesn't want to hang up his boots and is capable of doing both so we will go with his decisions.

"Ryan is a sensible lad who knows what he has to do and now it's down to him to put it right. Everyone is behind Ryan and we are confident he will turn it around."

Maidstone United chairman Paul Bowden-Brown will continue to talk to other prospective buyers after David Folb, the owner of Lashings World XI cricket team, was unable to pursue his interest in purchasing the Ryman League Premier Division club.

Bowden-Brown and Folb have been speaking over the past couple of weeks since the shareholders put the club up for sale.

David Folb said: “It is with regret that I am unable to pursue my interest in purchasing Maidstone United. Unfortunately I was unable to agree on a deal and have reluctantly had to accept I cannot take over the club at this moment in time.

“I have supported Maidstone United for three decades and I would also like to place on record my thanks to Paul Bowden Brown, who acted as a gentleman throughout the negotiations and who I feel conducted himself with the utmost professionalism.

“The economic climate means this is a very difficult time to be running a football club and I have every sympathy for Paul. As he said, buying a football club is not like buying a car.

“It is a very complicated process but I very much hope that another solution can be found to help the club through these difficult times.”

Bowden-Brown said: “I, like many connected with the club, will be disappointed by this news. It would have been good to have had something in place before Christmas but I can reassure everyone that this wasn’t our only iron in the fire and that as one door closes, another opens.

“I would like to thank David for his interest and words of encouragement and support.

“Until such time as a buyer or consortium comes forward, the shareholders will continue to run the club on our revised budgets and the board and executive committee will carry on with the day-to-day tasks, alongside the plans for the new stadium and major fundraising initiatives for this.”

The club have announced plans for an open meeting on Wednesday, 7th January, at 7.30pm, at the Orchard Spot in Bearsted to discuss fundraising ideas for the new stadium at James Whatman Way and take general questions about the club.

Poor defending saw Dover Athletic slip to their heaviest defeat under the guidance of manager Andy Hessenthaler, but the Whites remain at the top of the Ryman Premier League after their closest rivals also dropped points.

A brace from Robin Shroot and strike from Dewayne Clarke secured the points for Harrow on a day where Dover took their foot off the pedal.

But with Carshalton and Staines both drawing their games, Athletic's lead was only cut by a single point to seven.

Hessenthaler was disappointed with the way his team defended, but rejected claims that complacency had crept into the squad. 

He said: “I am very strict on that and make sure that never creeps in to the dressing room. We just didn’t turn up. We got what we deserved. We did create chances but we lacked that cutting edge.

“We have been lucky in away with how the other results went. We have been let off lightly. You are always going to lose games at a football club. It is very difficult to win every game but the way we lost the game was not acceptable and disappointing. Obviously people are going to say we missed Shaun Welford but I think even if he was there playing it wouldn’t have made much difference because of our defensive display.”

The Whites fell behind with just four minutes on the clock. From a throw in Jamie Lawrence picked up the ball and found Shroot on the edge of the area and he made no mistake with his shot that creept into the corner of the net.

Despite the possession Dover failed to trouble the Harrow goalkeeper Andray Baptiste and three minutes before the break Hessenthaler’s side were two down.

A lack of communication between Laurence Ball and goalkeeper John Whitehouse saw the defender head the ball to over the goalkeeper to Harrow’s Clarke who slotted the ball into the net.

It did not get any better for the Whites in the second half as they went in search of way back into the game. Giuliano Grazioli had two great chances but Harrow wrapped up the three points with Shroot’s second goal of the game.

Sutton United treated their biggest home crowd of the season to an impressive victory at Gander Green Lane on Saturday.

The launch of their link-up with the police's Safer Neighbourhood scheme added a couple of hundred to the regular gate.

Harlow were left to rue their inability to convert several chances that might have kept them in with a chance of rescuing something from the game.

Particularly in the first half, although United led thanks to a goal from David Hughes in which visiting keeper James Hasell played a significant part, there was little to choose between two sides.

Even though Sutton were much the better side after the break, they were still indebted to Darren Behcet, making his home debut in goal, for a penalty save which prevented Harlow getting back in to the game just after Billy Dunn had doubled Sutton's lead.

Hughes, influential alongside Steve McKimm in a midfield which saw the return of both Adam Wilde and Matt Hann, put United ahead with just about the first sight of goal that either side had.

Hughes created some space on the edge of the penalty area before firing in a shot which, while well struck, was straight at Hasell at head height.

The keeper really should have done better than just take the pace off the ball, which dropped behind him and trickled in to the net.

James Bunn missed a chance to bring Harlow level when he miscued Shaun Gliddon’s cross wide,.

Just before the half hour mark some woeful marking allowed Jordan Fowler to meet Gliddon’s free kick with a downward header that drew a superb save from Behcet, diving low to his left to hold the ball.

The closest Harlow came, though, was nine minutes before half time when the ball was worked out to Gliddon on the left and his low cross was diverted past Behcet by Mark Taylor, only for the ball to rebound off the post and be cleared to safety by Simon Jackson.

If United were slightly flattered by their half time lead, they soon put matters right after the break.

Within six minutes Hann ran on to a long clearance from Behcet and hit a low left foot shot against the legs of the advancing Hasell.

Seconds later, Hann fired in a deep cross that just eluded Dunn but was eventually played back to Hughes on the edge of the area. However this time his shot failed to trouble Hasell as it went over the bar.

It was only a brief respite for the visitors, though, and when Wilde’s free kick fell eventually for Dunn near the penalty spot, his deflected low shot doubled Sutton's lead.

Five minutes later Harlow had the chance to begin a comeback when Leon Lalite was tripped by Dean Palmer as he tried to turn on to Gliddon’s pull back.

But Behcet, who has done nothing but impress in his two appearances to date, dived low to his left to keep out Taylor’s penalty.

Having been reprieved, Palmer was in action at the other end as he evaded two challenges after some neat work by McKimm and Hughes had invited him to come forward from right back, and his shot from outside the penalty area was tipped away by Hasell.

And, after Jamie Richards had squandered another chance for Harlow, shooting wide of the post with only the oncoming Behcet to beat, Dunn put the game beyond reach with a stinging first time left footed shot after a corner had fallen to him just inside the penalty area.

Gavin McCallum, left out of the starting line-up for the first time this season, almost added a fourth within three minutes of coming on as a substitute as he ran on to Wilde’s pass and shot in to the side netting.

Wilde himself chipped just wide from 20 yards as United finished the game well in control.

Staines Town’s run of five straight wins came to an end with a 1-1 draw at in-form Billericay Town on Saturday.

Staines had made a bright start, with Lewis Cook stretching keeper Tony Tucker and Howard Newton having a shot block.

But Billericay’s first real attack in the seventh minute brought a goal.

Steven Ferguson’s corner from the right evaded both forward and defenders before it was met on the far side by a powerful drive into the net from Bradley Wood-Garness.

Staines, who then had Dean Thomas booked for a trip, relied upon some stout defending and assured goalkeeping from Louis Wells to prevent them going further behind.

Wood-Garness went close a couple more times, seeing one shot blocked and another well held by Wells, and it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes of the first half that Staines found their feet again - Jon McDonald’s long throws posing the most danger.

One of them contrived to elude every other player, bounce on the six-yard box, and hit the top of the crossbar, while the next was knocked down by Marien Ifura, and forced over the line by Scott Taylor, only for the 39th minute strike to be ruled out for offside.

Just before the break, the tireless Marc Charles-Smith won a corner which Howard Newton swung in, but once again Tucker’s punch was very assured.

McDonald was booked for dissent straight after the restart while Staines, despite a bright start to the half, found Billericay’s defence in a very determined mood.

Staines again had Wells to thank for closing Billy Bricknell’s chance down, after Ferguson had exploited a gap left when Ifura went down injured.

Staines threw on Harry Arter and Richard Butler, and these two reinvigorated their attack.

The Charlton man, in particular, almost made an immediate impact, smashing a powerful free kick into the wall, and never being afraid to take on a shot.

But Billericay were still dangerous, and Adrian Dean sent in a very awkward bouncing, angled shot, which Wells managed to grab at the second attempt.

Staines countered, and when Wayne Semanshia fouled Charles-Smith, Arter drilled in a low free kick which was met by Taylor, only for Tucker to parry it for a corner.

This was also taken by Arter, viciously inswung, but Neil Marron headed off the line.

There followed a further flurry of bookings – Butler for dissent, and Billericay’s Marron and Ferguson for fouls.

These both led to dangerous free kicks – the first spanked just past the post by Arter, and but the second – out wide on the left in the 84th minute – led to the vital equaliser.

Arter again was the taker, Ifura’s aerial power was important as he sent it into the six-yard box, and Richard Butler showed his poacher’s instincts by jabbing a knee at the ball for a scrappy but deserved equaliser.

Including additional time, there were still 10 minutes remaining, and it was Staines who showed the greater belief and urgency to try to win the game in that period.

Although Wells made another save when claiming a high free kick after a Risbridger foul (for which he was booked), Staines produced shots by Arter and Newton which fizzed just wide, and two close range drives from sub Dean Fenton that required Tucker’s intervention.

The game ended with Billericay disappointed to have let slip a lead they had held for almost 80 minutes, but admitting it was a fair result, while Staines remained third, drawing comfort from the other results, which saw only one other point going to a top five club.