Braintree 9 v 25 Thurrock
THURROCK travelled to bottom of the league Braintree and if any supporter thought that this game was going to be a walk over they were greatly mistaken. Adding together the commitment of the Braintree players fighting to stay in the league and the fact that the mid season break did not do Thurrock any favours. Adding to that a bad dislocated shoulder injury to captain Darryl Worster will keep him sidelined for at least six weeks
Their normal cohesive attacking ability was rather ring rusty and Thurrock let many scoring chances go to waste. They could not have had the better of starts with Frankie Neale slotting over a penalty, then converting a Nathan Farre’ll try whose hard running style caused problems for the Braintree defence the whole game.
The game then became an impasse with neither side being able to string any phases together as the scored stayed at 10-0 for the rest of the half and a long time into the second. Thurrock’s hope of a bonus point win seemed to be fading but the forwards give them a chink of light when they took charge of a line out close to the Braintree line and prop Aston Bevans-Royston crashed over for a try which seemed to deflate the home side.
The Worster injury gave Sam Boshell the chance to enter the fray, and within minutes of coming on a great chip from Ian Rudgley into space enabled the winger to collect the ball and dive over, Neale added the extra’s and Thurrock now needed a further try to get that Bonus point win, and it came in rather bizarre fashion when a high tackle prevented Kyle Tucker in crashing over, the referee decided to award to try under the posts, the conversion and the bonus point win gratefully gained. In injury time Braintree scored a consolation try which they deserved for their effort on the day, but rest assured the management team are aware that there has to be a massive improvement before they welcome Bury St Edmunds to Oakfield this week when kick off will be 3pm
TEAM: Worster (Boshell 60m),Neale, B Stanley, M.Stanley, Farrell, Rudgeley, Cook, North, C.Rate (S.Rate 50m), Bevans-Royston, Cooper-Hicks, Loka (Flavin 55m), Kyle Tucker, Timson, Garth Tucker
