Defeats for Doughboys and Diamonds and a new signing boost for the Steelmen
Wellingborough Town slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division leaders Quorn on Saturday.
The Doughboys were undone by a strike 10 minutes from time, with the visitors claiming all three points despite playing the final half-hour of the contest at the Dog & Duck with 10 men.
Quorn's Courey Grantham was the man dismissed, having earlier fired his side into a 45th-minute lead.
The Doughboys hit back to level almost immediately, with Jordan Graham netting in first-half stoppage time, but they were denied a share of the spoils when Zak Goodson scored the late winner for Quorn, who are now eight points clear of Corby Town at the top.
Although disappointed to lose, Doughboys boss Jake Stone was taking the positives from his side's performance.
"Small margins decide games at this level and we were very good for large parts today," Stone wrote on social media.
"Punished with our only two errors, and that’s what league leaders do.
"Tough to take but to say we felt we should have won today, says we are heading in the right direction!"
The Doughboys, who have dropped to 10th in the table, now have a free week to prepare for next Saturday's huge derby date at AFC Rushden & Diamonds, who endured a nightmare at the weekend - losing 5-1 at Racing Club Warwick.
Michael Harriman's side went into the game on a four-match unbeaten run, but conceded within the opening 15 seconds and after a first-half horror show found themselves 4-0 down before Charlie Green netted in the 44th-minute to make it 4-1 at the break.
There was to be no comeback though, as Racing completed an emphatic success with a 67th-minute goal from Cameron Ebbutt.
"To be 3-0 down after 18 minutes isn't good enough from us," Harriman told @AFCRDTV.
"It is a disappointing day, and after a nice little run we have come back down to earth with a bump.
"It's a shame because this group have been so good all year, and we have let ourselves down today.
"The beauty of football is we have an opportunity on Tuesday to go and put it right, but we really need to look at ourselves, be honest with ourselves after Saturday, and learn from it."
Diamonds, who slipped to eighth after the defeat, host Coventry Sphinx on Tuesday night (ko 7.45pm).
Corby Town were without a game on Saturday, and they return to action on Monday night with a trip to Coleshill Town.
The Steelmen haven't played since a 3-2 win over Shepshed Dynamo on November 2, and have had to sit back and watch title rivals Quorn win three successive matches in that time to take over at the top of the table.
The Leicestershire side are now eight points clear of Gary Setchell's second-placed side, having played one more game.
Coleshill are currently 14th in the table, and were knocked out of the FA Trophy on Saturday, losing 5-4 at home to Biggleswade Town.
The trip to Coleshill will be a chance for new signing Tendai Daire to make his Corby debut, having signed from Step 3 side Harborough Town on Saturday.
Daire was the top scorer in the Midlands Division last season, helpping Harborough to promotion via the play-offs, and was also named the league’s player of the season.