East London maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a gritty 13-10 victory over Chelmsford at the Memorial Ground in West Ham on Saturday (21 September).
The visitors were smarting over losing three matches last season to the maroon and blues and arrived determined to get one over on their former coach Eddie Gooby.
With two quality sides cancelling each other out, neither was able to totally dominate. In the end the result hinged on the final play of the match. The visitors thought they had grounded the ball over the try line, but the referee deemed an East London hand had held the ball up.
East London head coach Gooby said: “Sometimes tight games are judged on very small margins. Games against Chelmsford are always difficult. We weren’t at our best and we had to tough it out but we still won. Both of us will be there or thereabouts at the business end of the season.”
Chelmsford started the game playing with the wind and had the better of the early exchanges. They took the lead on 12 minutes with a penalty awarded for an offside decision.
East London came back and forced the visitors into a host of penalties. On 20 minutes they took the lead. Following a scrum on the five-metre line, a long pass was lofted to full back Max Stanyard who stepped inside to score. He added the conversion from close to the left touchline.
Chelmsford regained the lead five minutes later with a converted try in the left corner. A number of turnovers by the solid East London defence kept
the visitors at bay and just before the break the home side should have taken the lead but the ball was spilled at the vital moment. The visitors lead 7-10 at the break.
The home side began the second half better. Andrew Till making his debut on the left wing stretched the Chelmsford defence on the hour and scrum-half Will Brown was tackled short of the line two minutes later. The pressure told and a high tackle close to the Chelmsford line resulted in a yellow card for the visitors. Stanyard kicked the penalty to level the scores on 65 minutes.
With ten minutes to go Chelmsford gave away a further penalty. Stanyard rifled the kick through the uprights from distance to set up a frantic finish.
East London should have put the game out of Chelmsford’s reach but a sloppy pass meant a three on one overlap on the left wing went begging. They were forced to defend resolutely until the end, including the match-deciding final play.
Head coach Gooby added: “I am delighted with the team and we are learning with every game. Chelmsford put us under a lot of pressure and our defence was superb. To prevent them scoring in the second-half was an awesome effort.”
East London remain unbeaten in London 3 Essex but the failure to secure a try scoring bonus point drops them to fourth in the table. On Saturday they travel to unbeaten Campion where they have lost in the past two seasons.
East London 1st XV versus Chelmsford: 1. Mantas Urbonavicius; 2. Lewis Bourke; 3. Paddy Coman; 4. Josh Norton; 5. Luke Staples-Preston; 6. Nick Parrott; 7. Sam Cassidy; 8. Dan Bracken; 9. Will Brown; 10. Ryan Billinghurst; 11. Andrew Till; 12. Ed Brown; 13. Roger Ng; 14. Kevin O’Donoghue; 15. Max Stanyard. Replacements: 16. Ben Hogan; 17. Dave Gibson; 18. Bill Brown.