Bancroft 15
Dagenham 27
(Essex One)

BANCROFT remain rooted to the foot of the table, as despite an improved performance they crashed to a home defeat.

From the whistle the hosts put pressure on Dagenham, which finally told in the fifth minute when Adam Capon kicked a penalty to give his side a deserved lead.

But with ten minutes of the first half to go, Bancroft learnt that at this level any lapse of concentration will be punished and from a quickly-taken penalty Dagenham scored a converted try.

Undaunted, the Roding Lane outfit pushed against the defensive wall andcaught the Dagenham defenders napping.

Craig Adams took a quick penalty and ran 15-yards before passing to John Doolan to see him score his first try for the team. An excellent conversion by Capon saw Bancroft lead 10-7 going into the break.

With ten minutes gone of the second half Dagenham broke through the line to score a try.

For the next 15 minutes the game was even, but then the visitors upped their work rate to score another unconverted try that made it 10-17.

That lead was extended further with a third unconverted try.

Once again Bancroft did not let their heads drop and with six minutes to go a penalty was intelligently taken quickly by Sam Hodgson who fed Dan Lea to drive over for a simple try.

With the try margin down to one, Bancroft threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Dagenham, but over commitment saw the visitors finish off the game with an easy score.