Essex took an important step towards promotion by beating the Division Two leaders with four sessions to spare.

Wickets continued to tumble, but Andy Flower marked his final Championship appearance before joining the Zimbabwe squad in Sri Lanka with a match-winning 43 not out.

Starting the day on 21 for three, Middlesex lost their last seven wickets for the addition of only 72 runs, with Jon Dakin and Joseph Grant doing most of the damage.

Having removed Sven Koenig and Jamie Dalrymple on Thursday evening, Dakin trapped night-watchman Simon Cook lbw and then had Ed Joyce caught behind to finish with four for 17.

Owais Shah made 25 but the main resistance came from David Nash (33) and Ashley Noffke (22) in an eight wicket stand worth 43.

They were eventually separated by Grant, who had Nash caught at cover after top-edging an attempted hook and swept up the tail for figures of three for 19.

It left Essex to score 111 to victory but nerves were soon jangling in the home dressing room as Cook followed up his four first innings wickets by removing Darren Robinson, Will Jefferson and Jon Stephenson in quick succession.

It left Essex on 28 for three but Flower and skipper Ronnie Irani kept their heads and collected 13 boundaries between them as they added 67 to settle the outcome of the match.

Irani eventually gave a return catch to Paul Weekes, having made 42, but Flower and Aftab Habib completed the formalities.

Essex: D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, J P Stephenson, A Flower (Wkt), A Habib, R C Irani (Capt), A P Grayson, J M Dakin, J D Middlebrook, G R Napier, J B Grant.

Middlesex: S G Koenig, B L Hutton, J W M Dalrymple, O A Shah (Capt), E C Joyce, P N Weekes, D C Nash (Wkt), A A Noffke, S J Cook, C B Keegan, P C R Tufnell.

Umpires: J H Evans and J W Lloyds