Advantage Dulwich in title fight

The hosts, whose play-off hopes have faded in the last few weeks, took a 44th-minute lead with a Ryan Golding penalty after a foul by Danny Lye, who was booked. He then collected another yellow card before half-time to leave Stones a man down for the second half.

Golding scored again on 64 minutes, his 25th league goal. Stuart King netted his 23rd six minutes later and is probably now favourite for divisional scoring honours as Golding was sent off shortly afterwards and faces a ban.

Stones could not find an equaliser and suffered a further blow in the closing stages when Michael Phillips collected the game’s third red card.

Dulwich now trail the leaders only on goal difference and have a game in hand. They won 2-0 at Tooting, where Ellis Green headed the opener immediately after half-time and provided the cross which Trevor Rowe deflected into his own net in the 72nd minute.

The race for the other three play-off places looks likely to go the distance, with eight teams still in the hunt.

Faversham came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Hythe and stay in third place, a point ahead of their hosts.

A Jake Hobbs free-kick gave Hythe an early lead and their wind-assisted first-half dominance produced a second goal just before the break, Dave Cook nipping in for his 21st of the season after Kieron Byrne’s header came back off the bar.

Jamie Maxted headed home a corner to put Faversham back in it seven minutes into the second half and they drew level with a Wayne Wilson penalty in the 82nd minute.

Leatherhead moved up to sixth spot, a point behind Ramsgate with two games in hand, thanks to a 3-1 win at Walton & Hersham.

Tommy Hutchings scored twice in the first half-hour and Elliott Thompson made it three soon after the interval. Walton, now in serious danger of the drop, have signed veteran striker Tony Reid and he rewarded them with a 66th-minute consolation goal, only their 14th in 18 home games.

Folkestone had the chance to take over fifth place but dropped to seventh after a 2-1 defeat at Whitstable. Adam Woollcott provided the cross for Micheal Everitt’s 15th-minute opener and scored the second himself just before half-time.

Johan Ter Horst’s reply midway through the second half was all Folkestone could manage and the Oystermen are up to 14th. If they can maintain that position it will equal their best-ever finish in six years of Ryman League football.

It was a special occasion at Crawley Down, whose manager John Maggs was presented with an award to mark his 50 years of service to football. The majority of that was spent with Crawley Town as goalkeeper, manager and chairman.

He then had more than a decade in charge at Horsham before joining the Anvils last season. Maggs is pictured receiving his award from David Nessling of the Sussex FA.

Horsham, fittingly enough, were the day’s opponents and it looked as if their relegation fears would increased when Fraser Logan gave the hosts a first-minute lead. But the rest of the game belonged to Horsham, though Trevor McCreadle’s 44th-minute goal was all they could manage and it finished 1-1.

The Anvils, Sittingbourne and Worthing are all five points away from a play-off spot though Worthing, with only five games left, are very much the outsiders after being held to a 0-0 home draw by Burgess Hill.

Bottom club Three Bridges maintained their survival charge with a 3-0 victory at Eastbourne. Joel O’Hara and Elliott Romain put them two up in the first quarter of the game and they claimed a rather untidy third in added time.

Tim Rivers had a penalty parried by Josh Pelling and hit the rebound against the bar before Marcus Elliott arrived to finish the job.

Walton Casuals are two points ahead of Bridges after their 0-0 draw at Corinthian-Casuals, who themselves are only two points further clear and by no means safe.

The other game also looked set to finish without a goal, but Lee Newman struck in the 87th minute to earn Merstham maximum points at Chipstead.