Hardly competed well but were made to pay against leaders Eaton Park as they suffered a first league defeat since January, despite having three different scorers for the first time.
Robbed of the services of knee injury victim Dan Middleton and Dan Buxton, who missed out with a bad neck and back following a car crash Athletic's seven picked themselves and they were hoping to repeat the victory over Pathetic Athletic, who were top themselves when Hardly put them to the sword last month.
It was not meant to be though as goals conceded at regular intervals proved too much for Hardly too keep up with, although goals from Dan Hallam, Chris Cope and Ash Newman did see the scores tied at 3-3 going into the final stages.