HADLEIGH & Thundersley saw off bottom of the table Ardleigh Green by two wickets at the weekend.

But results elsewhere mean they are now unlikely to win promotion this season.

Third placed Hadleigh are now 33 points behind Buckhurst Hill, in second.

And Hadleigh bowler Dave Williams knows it will be tough to close that gap.

“The results didn’t really go our way so catching the top two looks a bit out of reach now but we still want to finish as high as possible,” said Williams.

“It was good to get the win at the weekend and bowl well to bowl them out for 129.

“They got off to a good start but we knew once we had them three or four down that we’d be able to restrict them.

“Obviously when you bowl a team out for a low score you’re always confident of chasing it down.

“However, we didn’t really get going with the bat and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

“But Snore (Adam Soilleux) batted superbly well to see us home and it’s always great to see your captain doing well.”

Ardleigh Green batted first at John Burrows Park but made just 129.

Kellon Carmichael led the way with the ball, taking four wickets for 20 runs while Soilleux chipped in with 3-25.

Soilleux then took centre stage with the bat, scoring 72 not out to see his side home.

No other batsman scored higher than 13 but Hadleigh were still able to come out on top.

However, it was a bad day at the other end of the table for relegation threatened Wickford.

They lost by 113 runs against Buckhurst Hill and are remain second from bottom in the standings, 20 points from safety.

Buckhurst Hill made 226/8 in their innings, despite some fine bowling from Chirag Desai who took 5-81.

However, Wickford made just 113 in reply with opener Darren Robertson top scoring 41.

Southend & EMT were also beaten, as they lost by six wickets at Harlow.

Southend batted first and scored 232/8 with the in-form Matthew Wagstaff making 54.

Opener Oliver Wagstaff, his brother, scored 42 but Harlow reached the required total for the loss of just four wickets as their opening batsman Imran Qadir scored 105 not out.

The defeat pushed Southend down to seventh in the standings.