Boreham Wood’s promotion hopes suffered a setback after their defeat to Havant & Waterlooville resulted in them being knocked off the top of the Conference South table.

Ian Allinson’s side were beaten 2-1 at home on Saturday and back-to-back victories for Bromley have seen them establish a four-point lead over Wood with two games in hand.

Wood opened the scoring in the first minute but a penalty and a last-minute winner for Havant proved the difference at Meadow Park.

Ben Nunn made his first appearance since September, although the defender’s comeback ended in disappointment after being dismissed for a late challenge.

But despite the defeat, Allinson was encouraged by the performance which he felt underlined their position in the table.

The Wood boss told the club website: “Obviously I am hugely disappointed to lose, but the character of the side is unquestionable.

“I felt we were comfortable before the sending off and created the better chances after it as well.”

Allinson added: “The penalty changed the game and it was harsh on us. Obviously going down to ten men gave Havant the advantage in terms of the counter attack and we were beaten by one piece of naivety when we failed to defend correctly in a dangerous area of the field right at the end of the game.

“Overall our performance against one of the top sides in the division shows that we are where we are on merit alone.”

Wood got off to an ideal start taking the lead inside 48 seconds. Junior Morias released Lee Angol and the striker fired home for the hosts.

The first warning sign from the visitors came when a header from Ed Harris was pushed away by James Russell.

Havant were awarded a penalty when Ben Swallow was brought down in the area by Callum Reynolds. Scott Donnelly converted the spot kick to send the sides in level at the break.

Nunn, who has been away travelling the world, was introduced shortly after the restart. But his return came to an abrupt end when he was dismissed for bringing down JJ Hooper when he was through on goal.

Donnelly stepped up to take their second penalty of the game but his effort cannoned off the post.

The visitors pushed forward in search of the winner with the extra man and went close through Swallow but his shot was saved by Russell.

It looked like Wood were going to claim a hard-earned point but Havant stole the points with a 90th-minute winner.

Bradley Bubb released Hooper and he fired home to sink the ten-man hosts.

Wood have the chance to get their promotion bid back on track on Saturday when they travel to struggling Maidenhead United.