Andre McCollin's return from injury could not have come at a better time for Tooting & Mitcham in their battle to beat the Ryman Premier League drop.

The striker has been out of action with an abductor problem for the past two months but came off the bench on Saturday to provide the one bright spark of a dismal 3-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Harrow Borough.

He scored a superb goal with 14 minutes left but defeat leaves Tooting firmly in the relegation zone and five points from safety.

"It's a big asset for the club and for me to have Andre up for selection every week now," said manager Kenny Brown.

"He has been injured since I have been here but we have not rushed him back and told him that when he comes back he has to make sure he is 100 per cent.

"Ideally, he wouldn't have been involved on Saturday if there had been a reserve game but he trained well on Thursday and had no reaction so was fit to be involved and you have seen the quality he has got - everybody knows about it.

"Scoring a goal will do him the world of good having been out for a while.

"He has been watching and wanting to be involved but he wasn't fit enough.

"Maybe, last time he came back too soon and we stressed to him that when he comes back this time he has to keep fit and then he can force his way into the first team."

The Terrors failed to make early dominance count against Harrow and found their keeper, Will Viner, in inspired form, before they were blown away in the second half.

"If you are playing a team in and around you then these are the games you can ill afford to lose," added Brown.

"We weren't clinical enough in our finishing and in the first half they had one corner we didn't deal with where the fellow was more hungry than us to get on the end of it and we were 1-0 down.

"We told the players at the break to up their game and not be sloppy and they will create chances but I think it goes in one ear and out the other - they were sloppy, there were individual errors and the decision making was poor and you are going to get beat when that happens.

"They were all buzzing at training on Thursday but you don't want to see them performing during the week and then go missing at weekends when it counts."

The big games keep on coming for the Terrors with a trip to second bottom Aveley on Saturday, one Brown knows they must regroup for.

"It is important we don't get our heads down and keep everyone positive," he said.

"Two or three results change everything and we have to make sure we take that into Aveley.

"We need to go into the game knowing if we do get a performance then, hopefully, we will take some of the chances we didn't take on Saturday and get the right result."