IT was a thoroughly miserable day for Concord as they crashed to a home defeat, had a man sent off, and saw midfielder James Elmes stretchered off with ligament damage.

But for all that they would have nicked a point at the death had it not been for a brilliant save from Welsh ex under-18 keeper Lee Worgan to deny James Lawson an implausible equaliser.

There were limited talking points of a poor first-half until Elmes was carried off in the 40th minute after twisting his ankle, and the visitors took the lead.

Lee Browning latched on to Sam Jones’ through ball and curled it beyond Dale Brightly and high into the net.

And just before the break, Brightly made a fine save from Frannie Colin to stop the visitors doubling their advantage.

Concord started the second half well and Brayley flashed wide before a Tony Stokes’ shot was blocked by Worgan.

Leslie Thompson, a new recruit from Croydon, came on for his Concord debut on 63 minutes, but within seconds he saw his new side go two down.

Watts’ testing cross was only half-cleared and Colin volleyed a home from 18 yards.

With ten minutes to go Concord pulled one back when Harry Elmes rose highest to head home Lawson’s cross.

But seconds later full-back Ashley Miller was shown a second yellow for a late challenge on Watts. It was reckless from Miller, who had only been booked five minutes earlier for shoving Danny Walder.

But Concord continued to push for an equaliser and, after Stokes had gone close, Worgan pulled off an instinctive, match-winning save from Lawson’s top-corner bound volley to keep his side in front.

There was still time for Russell Pond to curl a free-kick just past the post and, in the final action of the six added minutes, King flicked a ball on which Stokes just failed to get his toe to from six yards out.

Concord (4-4-2): Brightly; Miller, White, King, Glozier; Lawson, Sontag (Pond 66), Stokes, J Elmes (Cowley 43); Brayley (Thompson 63), H Elmes.

Echosport man of the match: Kirk Watts (Tonbridge Angels)