Thurrock 17 - 27 Dagenham

Dagenham secured their first away victory in Regional 2 Anglia this weekend, in a hotly-contested 17-27 win over rivals Thurrock. Despite being the first official meeting between these two teams, there was plenty of familiarity between many of the players which would add another layer of competition to the game. After a few early exchanges, Thurrock took the first blood; taking advantage of a couple of errors in Dagenham’s defensive alignment to send their winger in to score. Dagenham looked to reply immediately, Will Knowlden reclaiming possession with an excellent aerial take from the restart. A few phases later, the D’s were awarded a kickable penalty which Tommy Cameron duly converted to bring the scores to 7-3. It wasn’t long before Thurrock were awarded a kickable penalty of their own, however they were denied by the upright, with the ricocheting ball cleaned up by Dagenham and the danger cleared. Thurrock were soon down a man after their player was shown a yellow card for a late tackle on Cameron. Despite ferocious Thurrock defence, Dagenham soon managed to find an edge with Nat Farrell who kicked ahead; excellent chase from Liam Power Jr. applied the pressure which lead to a penalty on the Thurrock line. A strong scrum then set the platform and, after a few close carries, exceptional quick hands from forwards Taylor, Sinfield and O’Toole gave captain Farrell the chance to score in the corner. Dagenham weren’t able to hold the lead for long; again, physical defence from Thurrock in midfield applied the pressure and soon earned a series of penalties. This lead to a lineout on the Dagenham line, from which Thurrock managed to crash over for a score through a driving maul. After a period of exchanging possession, Thurrock were again reduced to 14-men for a yellow card for a high tackle on Farrell in midfield. Unfortunately for Dagenham, they were unable to capitalise on this and were soon reduced to 14 themselves, also for a high tackle. This time Thurrock were able to take advantage and sent their winger over in the corner to lead 17-8 at halftime.

Facing a 9-point deficit and a hostile home crowd, Dagenham knew that would need to approach the second half with an increased intensity and tactical control. This was provided through the territorial kicking of Cook and Cameron, keeping Thurrock pinned in their own half. Dagenham were soon awarded a penalty and, sensing an increasing dominance in the forward pack, elected for a scrum under the posts. The Dagenham pack indeed provided a powerful scrum effort, enabling Brad Retigan to spring from the base and beat three tackles to score. Cameron added the conversion to reduce the arrears to 2 points, at 17-15. Thurrock came back at the Dagenham team, but excellent defending kept them out, with Cook and Cameron again clearing the lines. The D’s worked their way down the field and a probing grubber kick by Josh Groom turned the pressure onto Thurrock; the chasing Gorman and Knowlden winning the turnover penalty on the Thurrock line. Dagenham again elected for the scrum which yielded similar results, this time Mitch Sinfield benefitting from the dominance to score. This gave the D’s a narrow 3 point lead, to ensure a tense final 10 minutes. Dagenham looked to close the game out, pinning Thurrock back at every chance and then playing a smart close-carry game, with powerful carries from the likes of man-of-the-match Jason Taylor, Sinfield and Ben Davis. This soon softened up the defence enough for centre Lewis Pruce, freshly on the field, to swerve through a hole and beat several tacklers to score under the posts. While this put the result beyond doubt, it also crucially had the effect of securing Dagenham a try bonus point in the table and denying Thurrock a losing point. Dagenham managed the final moments of the game, before kicking the ball out to cement an excellent victory on the road and moving up to fifth place in the table. The league now takes a short break, before resuming on October 14th when Dagenham will welcome table-toppers Southend Saxons to Central Park.