SMASH and grab raiders Hashtag United inflicted a rare defeat on Maldon and Tiptree 3-0 on Monday night as Wayne Brown’s boys missed the chance to hit the top of the Pitching In Isthmian Division One North, writes JON LONGMAN.

Hashtag are expected to challenge the likes of the Jammers for a top-five finish but maybe they needed a victory of this magnitude to get their season up and running after losing valuable home points to Brentwood and Coggeshall.

Brown was hoping that last Friday night’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Grays with Charlee Hughes bagging a brace had helped the Jammers turn a corner after harsh words during the opening day 7-2 win at Romford and an FA Cup defeat against Aveley.

But Hashtag stunned the lacklustre Jammers with three superb goals to the delight of their biggest crowd of the season (372) at Bowers.

Brown said: “That is only our second defeat in 100 and odd games.

“When you break that down that is not a bad record and it is very disappointing and hard to take when they do come along.”

Kris Newby gave Hashtag a 25th-minute lead when referee Aaron Farmer judged that Jammers keeper Ben McNamara had punched a Hashtag player rather than clearing a wicked cross. It seemed to be a harsh decision and McNamara was booked to add to his woes.

The Jammers pressed for an equaliser with Hughes creating several excellent chances but they were stunned by a piece of sheer genius.

Lee Hursit must have been told by referee Farmer that he was at liberty to take an 86th minute free-kick when he liked and his stunning 30-yarder that looped over McNamara was sheer genius.

This second goal came four minutes from time and the Jammers were caught on the hop again shortly afterwards when a defence-splitting pass sent Jesse Waller-Lassen scurrying across halfway.

With all the players bar sitting-duck McNamara in the Hashtag half, Larssen smashed home their third goal to huge roars.

Brown said: “You are going to get games where you get these sort of decisions but it is all about the way that you respond to those kind of decisions and I cannot fault the lads for their second half performance.

“We can’t wait until the 46th minute to start playing football, especially on surfaces such as this.

“The first half was disappointing and we didn’t play to anywhere near our best and there was no identity to what we were doing and that was very frustrating.

“The second half was so much better. I was pleased about the way we went about it and we had a couple of shots cleared off the line.

“I told the lads that I can live with losing games but I cannot accept that if we don’t do what we have to do.”