Waltham Abbey are still languishing down the bottom end of the Ryman North Division table after they lost 4-1 to leaders Maldon & Tiptree at the weekend.

Abbey started the game well and Montel Agyermang had the first shot of the game but his effort was held by home keeper James Pellin.

The hosts had a lot of chances but failed to capitalise and Maldon punished them when Matt Lock’s free-kick was turned into his own net by Abbey’s Spencer Harrison.

The leaders soon doubled their lead through Sam Newson, who hit a firm shot into the net.

Harrison’s afternoon was to go from bad to worse in the second half when he scored the second own goal in the 56th minute.

The Abbey player attempted to clear but the ball curled off his boot and into the net.

Liam Nash added his side’s fourth in the 77th minute before Rimmel Daniel headed home in the top corner with eight minutes left to play.

Waltham face Ware in the league on Saturday, kicking off at 3pm.

There was a better result for Essex Senior League side Waltham Forest, who recorded a 1-0 win over Hullbridge Sports at home.

The victory was secured with the club’s first clean sheet since mid-October and came after some changes to their line-up were made following their 1-0 loss to London Bari in midweek.

The deadlock was broken on 41 minutes when Pelummy Martin latched onto a ball over the top, taking a touch before lifting the ball over the advancing keeper.

Martin had chances to score once again in the second half but Forest were rarely troubled at the back.

Redbridge gained a good point after they drew 0-0 with Clapton at the Old Spotted Dog ground.

Clapton started the brighter of the two sides and always looked the more likely to score but the Motormen’s defence stood firm as they kept their first clean sheet in 14 outings.

Fellow ESL compatriots Wadham Lodge had a better week, winning their first match in a month following a 1-0 success over Tower Hamlets.

Daniel Jones scored the only goal of the game to seal the three points for the league strugglers.

Lodge had previously recorded a 2-2 midweek draw with Ilford in a game they were winning until the final minute.

Larry Asare scored twice to give his side the advantage but Ilford hit back to draw level in the last few minutes of the game through Jean-Terach Bavangila and Toib Adeyemi, who scored after 85 and two minutes into injury time respectively.

Barkingside’s match against Sporting Bengal was called off on Monday evening due to a waterlogged pitch at Cricklewood.

Eton Manor earned a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Enfield 1893 after Manor scored in the 90th minute to share the spoils.

Jayden Hocking-Rising breached the deadlock in the 46th minute but Enfield could not hang on for the three points.

It was a disappointing weekend for West Essex as their scheduled fixture against Haringey & Waltham had to be postponed due to a frozen pitch.

At the time of going to press, Ilford were set to take on Waltham Forest while Wadham Lodge faced Burnham Ramblers in league matches last night.