Anchorians 19

Millwall 10

ESSEX 1 League players Millwall visited Darland Avenue for the first time in a game of 20 minute quarters.

It seemed the teams were evenly matched, although the visitors spent the first segment camped in the A's half until in a rare excursion into the visitors' half brought a wayward pass, an interception and Millwall's opening score. The relatively easy conversion was missed but A's were on the back foot.

At the start of the second quarter A's piled headlong into the opposing half, desperate to get on the scoreboard.

Good play got them to within 10 metres before another interception turned attack into desperate defence. Five missed tackles allowed the runner to get to the 22 before he was finally brought down. The warning signs were there.

From A's perspective they were seeking young blood for the first team and the likes of Kenton Parbutt, Dan and Tom made a good impression as Alistair Parker used his strength and power to touch down despite having three Millwall players swinging off his back. The try was converted by Parbutt and A's led 7-5. Millwall responded with a second try, using the overlap to good effect, and at half-time they were 10-7 in front.

Fresh blood was brought on by both teams at the interval and once again the game started with a burst of powerful plays by both teams. This time, however, A's were rewarded for their efforts from a scrum just seven metres out. Mad Mick McLorn rolled out from the back to dive over the line for a try which was converted by Richie Collins to make it 14-10.

Anchs maintained the pressure and strong runs from brothers Adam and Ben Davison, Dave Hadris, Phil Dedman and Parker threatened to put more points on the table.

One run, with an overlap of two players, could have resulted in a try but white line fever took over when Collins was dropped by an excellent tackle just a couple of feet from glory.

Two additional "tries" were disallowed for being held up until A's scored the last points of the game courtesy of Brett Little, who sprinted a few metres to go over and complete the scoreline.