Five minutes of madness was Tiptree manager Steve Parnell's description of Tuesday night's shock Jewson League division one defeat, 3-2 at home by Whitton.

The Jam-makers, who had only lost once in the league all season, were looking for a win after two successive draws to maintain their promotion drive.

Defender Danny Hill tripped as he shaped to clear after only five minutes leaving a Whitton forward the chance to put the visitors in front.

Within minutes the league leaders found themselves a further two goals behind.

Tiptree emerged from the break a far more determined outfit, but the Whitton defence held out until Adam Flint scored from close range with only five minutes left.

With practically their next attack Andy Brady managed to make it two via a deflection off a defender.

"This defeat may have done us a favour," said Parnell. "Obviously I was hoping for a win to take us into Saturday's vital match against Stanway on a confident high.

"But it's given everyone a kick up the backside and made people realise nothing can be taken for granted."

Harwich fell to a 5-1 home defeat at the hands of Jewson premier rivals Ipswich Wanderers despite taking an early lead.

John Grayson opened the Shrimpers' account with a well-worked goal, but in a disastrous ten minute spell Wanderers hit three goals. The rot started when the visitors equalised with a dubious penalty after some pushing in the box.

Shrimpers manager Tony Hall felt the game was still there for the taking at half-time, but a disappointing second half performance saw Harwich slump to a 5-1 defeat.

Hall said: "If we continue to play like we did in the second half then we will be relegated."

Halstead pulled off an East Anglian Cup victory beating visiting Romford 3-1. Mark Farmer equalised after 20 minutes and Halstead took the lead through a set-piece with Steve Wareham adding the final touch.

Midway throught the second half, Romford were reduced to ten men and Ricky Jewitt capped the evening off with a fine shot that curled in at the top corner.

Halstead manager Shaun Bailey said: "This was a real confidence boost for the lads and hopefully they can take something from this game back to the league matches."

Witham Town shared a 1-1 draw with Wokingham after drawing 2-2 away to the same team last month. Witham took the lead two minutes after the break when captain Alan Vincent scored from close range.

But the visitors equalised in the 68th minute. They broke away and a hard shot was only partly saved by a home defender and was deflected in for an own goal.

Only a tremendous save by Freeman from a shot from Ashton denied Witham three points.

Heybridge Swifts eased their premier division relegation worries with a 1-0 away win over Walton and Hersham on Monday, Chris Heasman getting the goal.

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