It was one of those days when the star performers’ award could have gone to a number of candidates from the north Essex sides playing in the Bostik League.

Three teams placed themselves in the running for the honour with tremendous wins in division north, but in the end there was only one place that it could really reside.

That was at Scraley Road, where Heybridge Swifts pulled off an eye-catching win in their top-of-the-table battle against leaders Bowers & Pitsea.

Second-placed Swifts have been doing an amazing job since Julian Dicks took over as manager and their 1-0 win against their Essex rivals has only underlined their title credentials.

Heybridge claimed a memorable home win as Charlie Kendall fired home the only goal of the game in the 62nd minute and while it wasn’t enough for them to overtake Bowers at the top of the table, the lead has now been trimmed to just three points.

Another side who were in line for the star performance tag was Maldon & Tiptree, but while they missed out to Swifts, they have profited from their local rivals’ win against the leaders.

The Jammers stayed third, but Heybridge’s result coupled with an excellent 4-2 win at Great Wakering Rovers, has reinvigorated Maldon’s own push for the title.

They are now just four points off the top.

At Wakering, all the goals came in the first half, with Jake Gordon and Shomari Barnwell on target for the hosts and De-Carrey Sheriff and Sammie McLeod both getting braces for Maldon.

The third side vying for the star performance honour and the one perhaps closest to taking it off Heybridge were Witham Town.

Their 2-1 win, which extended their unbeaten run to seven games, was impressive enough in itself, but they had to come from behind and also lost two key players to injury in the first half.

One of those was goalkeeper Luca Collins and without a recognised replacement on the bench, skipper Danny Norton had to step in for his first-ever taste of action between the sticks.

The game had opened with Brentwood taking the lead through an Ernest Okoh goal, but a beautifully-taken equaliser by Toby Aromolaran and a Luke Mallet penalty put Witham ahead.

Brentwood predictably threw everything at Witham’s defence and their stand-in keeper after the break, but they showed a commendable resilience to hold on to their points.

Elsewhere in division north, Coggeshall Town were beaten 3-0 at Felixstowe & Walton United.

There was also premier division action and Brightlingsea Regent earned a point at Tonbridge Angels with a 2-2 draw.

However, the point taken will be tinged with frustration as Regent allowed a two-goal lead to slip after goals from Harvey Hodd and Billy Hunt had put them in a commanding position early in the second half.

Angels hit back in the latter stages, though, with strikes from Tom Parkinson and Alex Read to take a share of the spoils.