Thurrock made the relatively short journey across the bridge to visit Westcombe Park in Orpington this past Saturday in a game that pitted 5th against 6th. A win for T's would see them jump ahead of the hosts and finish 2018 in 5th place.

For the third consecutive Saturday the weather played a significant part in the way the game panned out. In near on freezing and wet conditions, Thurrock kicked off with the elements in their favour.

Early pressure from the visitors resulted in the home team giving a penalty away which was knocked over by Sam Stanley.

Thurrock were soon on the score sheet again as some great team play saw them work the ball across the pitch for Jake Barrand to slide in at the corner. Stanley missed the conversion from out wide.

Thurrock continued to press and another break from 'Man of the Match' Henry Bird, who had been a constant thorn in the home sides defence gave Dan Stone the chance to score a try just wide of the post. Stanley converted this time, aided by a post and the crossbar.

Thurrock continued to dominate possession and Stanley slotted another penalty just before half time to give Ts an 18-0 lead at the break.

The conditions worsened as the game re-started. To the Home side's credit, they kept possession for the majority of the 2nd half with Ts only managing one meaningful attack.

Westcombe Park were rewarded for all of their possession when a chip through was not dealt with by numerous Thurrock defenders and the Home side's winger pounced to ground the ball over the line.

After defying a wave of home side attacks and only 5 minutes remaining Dan Carey was shown a yellow card for collapsing the maul and the referee awarded a penalty try reducing the deficit to just 4 points.

The home side were awarded a penalty in the final minute and knowing a shot at goal would be no good, they kicked to the corner in hopes of rumbling the Thurrock pack over the line.

Ts had other ideas however and managed to steal the lineout before Jake Bedding kicked the ball out to hear the refs full time whistle and give Thurrock their 4th consecutive win as well as achieving the league double over their opponents.

Following a tough start to 2018 which saw T's narrowly avoid relegation, Thurrock have managed to turn things around in the first half of the season and finish 2018 in good form. This ever improving side are really starting to come together under the guidance of Martin Jones, Sally Tuson & Jim Evans and all bodes well for 2019.

The 1st team squad would like to thank all of the supporters & sponsors who follow them home & away,

Thurrock will return to league action when they host Tottonians on 5th January 2019 at Oakfield.