Horspath suffered an agonising two-run defeat in a low-scoring encounter at Stoke Green in Home Counties Premier Cricket League Division 2.
Having bowled out the hosts for 114 after they elected to bat with Jehan Mohammed taking 4-38, Horspath's hopes of victory were shattered as they fell short at 112 all out.
Despite it being a glorious sunny day bowlers dominated. Derval Green removed both openers and with Sravan Konidena also striking the visitors had Stoke Green in trouble at 13-3.
Liam Turnbull tightened the screw with two wickets in the space of three balls to make it 32-5, before Raheem Sher and captain Karanpreet Singh added a further 20 runs without loss before the lunch interval.
Mohammed broke their stand, though, after the resumption with Sher caught by Tom Nichols for 23 to leave the hosts 68-6.
Singh and Passikku Madusanka moved the score on to 97 before Mohammed bowled the Stoke Green captain for 28.
The Horspath seamer repeated the dose to remove Adnan Malik and claimed his fourth wicket when Madusanka was caught by Konidena for 29 to make it 114-9.
Captain Amin Rafiq wrapped up the innings without addition to the score to leave Horspath firmly in the driving seat.
Mohammed was well supported by Turnbull (2-16) and Green, who returned the same figures from his opening 10-over spell.
But Horspath then found themselves quickly in the mire at 0-2 and with Malik adding two more wickets it was 17-4.
Tom Nichols and Connor Wardlaw held Stoke Green at bay for a while. But with the score on 41 Wardlaw was caught by Tegh Segal off Madusanka for 14.
Josh Richardson joined Nichols and they looked to have wrestled back control for Horspath. They had added 48 for the sixth wicket when Nichols was bowled by Malik for a run-a-ball 43 to make it 89-6.
That triggered another mini collapse as four wickets fells for seven runs capped by Richardson becoming Malik's fifth victim when he was caught by Najib Khan for 21 to leave Horspath 96-9.
However, the last pair of Turnbull and Sam Leslie then inched the visitors towards the target in a nail-biting finish.
But they weren't quite able to pull it off as with Horspath three runs from victory Leslie was lbw to Zulfiqar Butt.
Malik returned match-winning figures of 5-23 from eight overs, with good support from Madusanka (3-36) and Butt (2-22).
The loss saw Horspath drop to seventh spot ahead of Saturday's home game against second-placed Oxford, who lost to Gerrards Cross by six wickets, as the format switches to 50-over cricket.
Horspath CC would like to thank the following 2026 Player Sponsors:
Amin Rafiq (STRONG Pilates Oxford)
Asad Rafiq (STRONG Pilates Oxford)
Will Eason (Oxford Marquees)
Josh Richardson (Steve Richardson)
Tyrone Eyles (Interduct UK Ltd)
Robbie Eason (ARB UK Ltd)
Tom Coleman (RJA & SL Coleman)
Ryan Hicks (Green & Wakefield)
Ehsan Hussain (RMA Properties)
Tom Nichols (Savona Foodservice)
Josh Cummings (Gardiners Opticians)