Burnham Sports were left to reflect on what might have been after losing by five wickets away to Goresbrook.
Sports had given themselves an excellent chance to belatedly gain a first win of the Premier League season after reaching 108 for one on a pitch that a panel of T Rippon umpires consistently mark as the worst in the league.
They slumped to 161 all out, though, a tally that Goresbrook always looked like achieving thanks to their prolific captain Kurt Whisker, who made 55.
“We got ourselves into an excellent position to win the match but then threw it away,” Jamie Hamilton, the Burnham captain said. “A total of at least 200 should have been a formality after the start that we got and that would have put Goresbrook under huge pressure.
“I still thought 162 would take some getting given the erratic nature of the pitch but we didn’t bowl well enough - we got our length wrong and there were too many leg-side wides. Overall, it was a flat performance by us.”
Despite the uneven bounce and two-paced nature of the wicket, Paul Green (48) and Fuad Ahmed (28) helped guide Sports past three figures before the halfway stage of their innings.
A testing tally of about 230 seemed on the cards but, instead, Burnham collapsed, losing nine wickets for 54 runs.
Once Green, who hit seven fours and a six, and the the battling Ahmed had departed in quick succession, the visiting team completely lost their way. Runs dried up and wickets fell at regular intervals.
It was the second and third-change bowlers, Messenger and Barwick, who combined to do the damage, combing to take seven for 63. They made up the absence of the Israel Ochwo, the fastest bowler in the league.
Burnham needed quick wickets when Goresbrook replied but a nine-ball opening over (three wides) by Robin Whittaker, their principal weapon, set the pattern.
Whittaker did hit back with two wickets but Whisker was given a relatively easy ride and his team were within sight of victory when he eventually perished, caught at mid-off by Joel Whittaker off the bowling of Bridge.
Left-handed spinner Bridge (two for 20) extracted bounce and turn, creating plenty of danger. Had Sports played their cards again, then he would probably have bowled in tandem with Hamilton, another spinner, who didn’t send down a single ball.
This Saturday, Sports travel to Thurrock, having improved since losing the reverse fixture by 79 runs in mid-May.
Thurrock, fourth in the table, began the campaign with six successive wins but have won only one of their past five fixtures.
Sports remain bottom of the table but Little Baddow and High Roding, who also lost at the weekend, remain catchable. Two teams will be relegated at the end of next month.