Alton Town suffered only their second defeat of the season on Saturday and were a mere shadow of the side that had beaten Stockbridge 3-0 in mid-week.
Manager John Robson read his players the riot act in the dressing-room afterwards, furious at the lack of consistency that caused Alton to lose ground in the league table.
The visitors from the Isle of Wight were content to defend in numbers behind the ball and hit Town on the break – and two of those counter-attacks resulted in goals.
Alton could not be faulted for lack of effort – all the players gave 100 per cent – but were guilty of not finishing in front of goal when dominating, especially in the first half.
A couple of shots were kicked off the line and Ian Dyer deserved better for his excellent work on the left wing.
Jamie Smith could have been forgiven for not scoring as he was suffering the effects of a heavy cold, but in fact it was he who got Alton's goal in the second half.
Near the end, when Alton were pushing for the equaliser, Mark Cole denied East Cowes with some fine saves.
His opposite number was outstanding and broke Alton's hearts when he somehow managed to get across and tip Mark Clothier's tremendous drive over the top.
Stockbridge 0, Alton 3. The Wednesday before, Alton had swept to a decisive win at Stockbridge.
Brad Smith put Alton in front with a shot that seemed to take a deflection off the goalkeeper.
The home team had little joy against a solid Alton defence, shored up by the impressive Nick Guy and Andy Sharratt.
Clothier and the industrious Smith were proving a handful at the other end, and it was Clothier who made it 2-0 early in the second half with a clever chip over the advancing goalkeeper.
Alton should have turned their superiority into further goals.
They were unfortunate to have one disallowed, but finally Clothier scored his second after some smart work between Clive Ventham and Dyer.