Winchester and Tottonians both threw away golden opportunities to close in on the London Division Three South-West play-off place by sliding to disappointing home defeats.

Winchester's 25-19 reverse was particularly heartbreaking against champions elect Jersey, who need just two more wins to seal the title as they sit a mammoth ten points clear with seven games remaining.

Leading 19-0 with seconds left of a first half they had dominated, Winchester were given a joltwhen a well-worked try from Steve O'Brien shortly after full-back Mark White had put the Channel Islanders on the board gave the visitors renewed hope.

It meant all the hard work the hosts had put in had been undone. They had worked an early try for centre James Bingham and with four penalties from Dan Kinsey, Jersey had had little response to the power play that Winchester threw at them.

The feeling in the camp was that, had Winchester turned around 19-0 to the good, they were firmly in the box seat. But, at 19-10, the initiative had swung to the league leaders and they needed no second invitation.

White hit an immediate penalty after the break and centre Matt Davenport-Brown gave the visitors the lead before the pacy Gareth Jeffreys scored the try of the game, weaving his way through as Winchester ran out of juice after their first-half exertions.

Coach Barry Bridgman cut a disconsolate figure.

"They literally didn't get out of their own half until injury time in the first half," he said.

"We gave everything but left ourselves nothing for the second and they came back strongly."

Once again, Tottonians skipper Paul Goodall bemoaned his side's continued indiscipline in crucial games as the reason they were comprehensively beaten by second-placed Effingham & Leatherhead 39-5.

While the result does not take into consideration the three interception tries the Surrey side claimed in the final seven minutes, it does reflect their capability of capitalising on the stream of Totts errors that gifted them the game.

The home side felt they were in the game at 15-5 at the break, even though they had endured two periods of play with only 14 men on the pitch after Kev Barratt and Lee Brading were sin-binned.

But their fumbles were similar in the second half and, although Matt Searle and Neil Angell had good games, they were sadly lacking in other areas of the park and Effingham took full advantage.

"We went back to our traits of before Christmas," said the captain, "and gave away just too many penalties. It was very frustrating but at least the lads stuck at the task. Effingham really are our bogey side."

Things are looking decidedly ominous at the foot of London Division Four South-West as relegation rivals Old Emanuel 54-14 thrashed Romsey on their latest league away day.

Once again, the unavailability list outnumbered the availability one for the Sports Centre men - they also cancelled their second XV game - and a strengthened Emanuel took flight to join Petersfield on six points in the scrap against the drop.

Meanwhile, Southampton put up a fight against promotion-chasing Old Reigatian but still came out on the end of their tenth defeat of the season, losing 22-12.

At least skipper Marcus Coffin was once again encouraged by what he saw from the sidelines and agreed that the Surrey side were worried for considerable periods, especially when winger Julian Robins ran in to bring the game within seven points with ten minutes left.

However, a late penalty ensured the points went up the M3 and left Saints still marooned in the bottom two.

But Coffin said: "We deserved at least a draw because we battled hard and the spirit could not be faulted."