Enfield suffered the agony of missing out on promotion to the Middlesex County Premier Division by a single point after slipping to a three-wicket defeat at Hornsey on the final day of the season.

In a three-way battle for the two promotion places, Enfield knew bettering the result of Stanmore and Harrow St Mary’s would be sufficient to seal their place in the top flight.

They batted first but there was no repeat of the previous week’s mammoth opening stand as Les Edwards and Rehan Hassan both fell in the single figures for eight and four respectively.

Opener Jack Plumb (55) dug in and formed a resolute partnership with Ayush Sahota (37) to help take Enfield past 100 for the loss of two wickets, before the latter became the first of former Middlesex all-rounder Paul Weekes’ five scalps.

A combination of inspired bowling and poor stroke play proved to be Enfield’s undoing as they quickly collapsed to 113-5.

Plumb passed his 50 but only an unbeaten 29 from Faisal Mir at the back end of the innings helped Enfield take their tally to 198-9 from their 45 overs, as Weekes claimed impressive figures of 5-31 and Jack Goldberg registered a useful 3-35.

At the halfway stage, earlier victories for Stanmore and Harrow St Mary’s meant Enfield knew only a win themselves would be enough to usurp their promotion rivals and return to the top two.

The Hornsey response got off to the desired start, however, following an opening stand of 73 between Weekes (34) and James Bull (21) – a partnership broken by Dan Amedee (3-37).

Undeterred by that setback, Joe Emanuel steadied things with a composed 54 to take Hornsey to 141-2 and what seemed at that stage to be a certain victory.

Enfield rallied however thanks to the efforts of Amedee and Aamir Ihsan as they stumbled to 155-5 to give the visitors a glimmer of hope, but indifferent fielding proved terminal to their chances.

Two catchable chances went down to give Hornsey a lifeline they were not about to pass up, with big hitting from Goldberg (23) and George Croton (19 not out) taking the hosts to the brink of victory.

Edwards claimed two late wickets but they proved to be no more than mere consolation breakthroughs as in-form Hornsey, who had won seven straight matches, reached their victory target with 13 deliveries and three wickets remaining to finish on 204-7.

While Enfield’s tally of 129 points would have been sufficient to earn promotion in each of the last 15 seasons, they must now reflect on a heartbreaking loss in the knowledge that it was in their hands following their thrashing of Southgate the week prior.