Wymondham 46, Thurrock 41

THURROCK came close to pulling off a remarkable comeback, taking Saturday's (10 October) London & SE Division Regional 2 Anglia right down to wire after being behind for much of the game and looking dead and buried.

In the end injuries and a shortfall in energy after a sapping match meant they fell just short, but it was another exciting and high-scoring clash featuring Tees. In three league matches to date a total of 232 points have been scored.

The first seven and a half minutes of Saturday's clash in Norfolk were pointless with play ebbing from end to end but the hosts seized the initiative with a quickly taken penalty from close range when Kit Brodie caught Thurrock napping and dived over by the side of the posts and Charlie Delaney converted with some ease. Delaney added three more with a penalty on the quarter hour.

Seven minutes later Joe Stace ended a flowing move by going over in the corner to stretch the lead. And, with a strong wind at his back, Delaney added the extras.

Thurrock got on the scoreboard a couple of minutes later when Malachy Watts-Adams picked the ball up from a melee after a line-out and dived over. The kick, into the teeth of a gale, drifted just wide.

Great play by Wymondham just after the half hour saw them turn the ball over and they shipped out to their right where Angus Bradley showed a great turn of pace to race through and put the ball down under the posts, again giving Delaney another easy conversion.

Thurrock's resilience came to the fore again when Watts-Adams showed his eye for an opportunity and crossed from close range for Thurrock's second try, which again went unconverted.

There was still time for Delaney to add three for the home side from a penalty before the sides went into the break with the score 27-10 in Wymondham's favour.

With the wind at their back, Thurrock made a good start to the second half with a spell of pressure but they paid the penalty for a lack of concentration when Delaney intercepted and raced away to score, again under the posts and again he kicked the extras to put his side 34-10 ahead.

It looked like 'game over' – but Thurrock didn't follow that script.

Eight minutes into the half Kodie Holloway took a page from the home side's playbook and took a quick tap penalty, sprinting through a gap and scoring as Wymondham were caught napping. Jake Barrand converted to give his side hope.

But then came another twist as Thurrock relaxed from the restart, Wymondham gained possession and Bradley raced through to score. Delaney once again converted and at 41-17 it looked as if hope was finally gone for the visitors.

Not so! With 18 minutes left – and after losing a couple of players to injury, Thurrock's willingness to keep going resulted in a sustained piece of pressure close to the home tryline and William Bailey managed to force his way over. Barrand delivered the extras.

A 17-point deficit still looked daunting but the inspirational Ben Stanley produced a scintillating piece of play to open up a gap before feeding replacement Darryl Worster who went over. Stanley was flattened by a late, high tackle after making the pass, and the referee immediately issued a yellow card to Wymondham and automatically added the extras by announcing it was a penalty try.

The deficit was reduced even further when youngster Shea Cotter put the finishing touches to a quick move along the three-quarter and after Barrand once more delivered the extras the gap was just three points.

The impossible seemed possible – even when Wymondham broke free and added another try to stretch the lead to 46-38. Thurrock kept going forwards and won a penalty that Barrand slotted, meaning with around four minutes to play a try would put them level and a converted one would win the day.

They put huge pressure on through those few minutes but Wymondham didn't crack and in the end, time was called on a memorable match.