CLACTON 29

MILLWALL 5

Essex League division one

CLACTON recorded their second success of the season with a bonus-point win against Millwall.

It means they are at last moving away from the lower reaches of the table.

A Simon Anderson try in the right-hand corner, within a minute, set things up nicely and the same player added a second after a quarter-of-an-hour.

Millwall looked dangerous when they broke, but squandered a couple of opportunities before Jon Vine’s break from inside his own half added Clacton’s third.

The strong cross-wind made kicking and line-outs something of a lottery, but Elliott Shuttleworth was able to add the conversion.

However, there was still enough time for Millwall to pull a try back and the teams turned round at 17-5.

This late score spurred the visitors and Clacton were under the cosh for the opening 20 minutes.

However, some tenacious defending, typified by 17-year-olds Toby Kitchener and Tom Nation, kept the East London side at bay.

A minor fracas meant Clacton had to play for ten minutes with just 14 men, but the scoreline remained unchanged until ten minutes from the end.

Clacton, by this stage, were dominating the scrums and Jake Buxey pounced on a loose ball before anyone else to score try number four.

Buxey then added the icing to the cake.

He ran in under the posts for his second try, and his side’s fifth, leaving Shuttleworth’s conversion as the final kick of the game.

Clacton will now be hoping to consolidate and improve their position this Saturday when they travel to East London again for a match against bottom club Kings Cross Steelers.

Kick-off is at 2.30pm.

There was more good news for the Seasiders when their second team, the Kestrels, returned from Stowmarket with a 20-7 win.

Darren Tully scored two of his side’s three tries, kicked one conversion and also notched a penalty.

Kenny Hassan was the scorer of the third try.

The Kestrels now have a week off from their Eastern Counties League division three exploits, but instead have a friendly fixture against Maldon at Vista Road. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.