Justin Gardner described the performance from his side as simply "not good enough" before suggesting that he had lost patience with some of his players and would look to ring the changes before next Saturday’s league game against Redbridge.

Those comments came after the Millers boss watched one of his former players put them to the sword at Barrows Farm, with a goal either side of the break from Dadson.

It took just 11 minutes for Dadson to open the scoring after Leon Antoine capitalised on hesitation from Gbenga Sonuga and Ibrahim Mansaray to slip in the winger, striking across Jack Giddens to score off the inside of the post.

Despite a bright start to the second half from Aveley they never really looked like getting close to an equaliser with efforts from Petrit Elbi and Junior Appiah failing to test goalkeeper Darren Bechet.

Dadson then made sure of the points when he latched onto an error from Siao Blackwood, who had taken his eye off the ball, stealing it from the right back before rounding Giddens to score his second.

The result leaves Aveley stranded in 12th in the Ryman North table, 10 points off their opponents Harlow who now occupy the last play-off place.

But speaking after the match Gardner wasn’t concerned about whether his side could reach the play-off places or not, but simply about getting results on the board after failing to win a league game in over a month.

That last win came away at Erith & Belvedere on November 3rd, and at the time that had taken Aveley up to fourth in the league. But a recent run of poor results have them slip away from contention and now Gardner just simply wants to go back to “ugly and basics and playing horrible football just to grind some results out.”

Harlow were flying high, after becoming the second team to have beaten VCD this season their confidence was evident as James Smith saw his early chance well blocked.

Aveley’s confidence levels on the other hand weren’t so high after a poor result last weekend, drawing at home to Ware, and their confidence was shaken further when Harlow took the lead after 11 minutes.

Alex Read and Junior Dadson will be familiar names to Aveley fans, having both played for the Millers last season. Read has been on fire this season with 25 goals already to his name, but it was Dadson who was the form player here.

Gbenga Sonuga and Ibrahim Manasaray dallied on a bouncing ball allowing Leon Antoine – another former Miller – to latch on before slipping in Dadson on the right. The Harlow number seven confidently struck across goal, scoring off the inside of the post to give the home side the lead.

It wasn’t until midway through the first half until the Millers had their first effort on goal when Petrit Elbi struck from distance only to see his effort just go over Darren Bechet’s bar.

But it continued to be the home side who looked the most threatening with Read coming close with a strike across goal which just evaded Jack Giddens’ far post.

Not only were Harlow looking the most threatening, but they looked like they simply wanted it more, coming out on top in almost every 50/50 challenge, going into the break with a 1-0 lead.

In the second half Aveley started brightly and threatened early on when Elbi played in Junior Appiah down the right but the winger’s low cross into the box was cleared comfortably.

Elbi then tried another long range effort which had the same result as the one in the first half, curling over Bechet’s bar.

The pace of Dadson was causing a constant nuisance to the Millers, and he done brilliantly well to carry the ball into the box before shooting straight at Giddens as the hosts looked for a second.

Daniel Brown was unfortunate not to make it 2-0 himself when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area. The centre-half struck it perfectly on the half volley only for Antoine to get in the way, deflecting it wide.

Read forced a decent save from Giddens before blazing the rebound over as Harlow pressed for what would have been a decisive second goal, and with 20 minutes still remaining they finally found it through their man of the match, Dadson.

From an Aveley throw-in the ball was played across goal to Siao Blackwood who had Dadson bearing down on him. Taking his eye off the ball, Blackwood lost control allowing Dadson to slip in using his pace to get clear of the defender before rounding Giddens and putting the ball into the empty net.

It was a horrible goal for the Millers to concede and killed off any real hope of snatching anything from the match, though they continued to search for a way back in.

Debutante Kyle Asante came the closest to putting Aveley back in with a shout when his flick from a Jason Twum low cross just missed the post and hit the side netting.

And Aaron Gayle will feel he should have at least hit the target after he was found by a cross from Asante, but he completely miscued his header wide from six yards out.

Stanley Muguo came close to really putting some gloss on the result for Harlow after he side footed his effort just wide after being played in by Shane Stamp.

And Aveley’s afternoon was summed up when late on Elbi was played in by Appiah only for his effort to be deflected over the bar by the diving Darren Blewitt, ensuring the Millers failed to score in a competitive game for the first time this season.

“Not good enough” said Justin Gardner as he assessed the performance from his side.

“To be fair, I was quite glad that it was only 1-0 at half time. Better half second half but it’s easy to say that when they’ve already scored a goal.

“A few of the boys let themselves down today. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do, there will be a few of those that I’ll be letting go because I’ve been patient and tried to wait for them to give it week in week out.

“Maybe I need to go back to ugly and basics and playing horrible football just to grind some results out. I’m not a fan of it but maybe I need to go back to that.”

Aveley: Jack Giddens, Siao Blackwood (Anton Stephenson 85’), Teddy Nesbitt, Jay Leader, Gbenga Sonuga (c), Danny Hopkins (Aaron Gayle 73’), Petrit Elbi, Ibrahim Manasaray, Kyle Asante, Rashid Kamara (Jason Twum 60’)