LONDON FOUR NE Dagenham 10 Canvey Island 26 DAGENHAM suffered a second consecutive league defeat at the hands of a fired up Canvey side, in what was a very disappointing afternoon at Central Park. The match started with an impeccably observed minutes si

LONDON FOUR NE

Dagenham 10

Canvey Island 26

DAGENHAM suffered a second consecutive league defeat at the hands of a fired up Canvey side, in what was a very disappointing afternoon at Central Park.

The match started with an impeccably observed minutes silence, as players and officials from all Dagenham sides and the travelling Canvey and Upminster players paid tribute to Barry Robinson, who sadly passed away last Sunday.

The D's had to make a host of changes again, as they attempt to contend with an ever increasing injury list, however they just didn't get out of second gear, and it was one of those days where things just didn't click.

The visitors opened the scoring after what had been a fairly bright start by Dagenham, as their centre glided over out wide after some fairly soft defence.

The score brought life to Island and they soon added another.

Despite a fairly decent scrum five yards out, Dagenham somehow coughed up possession and Canvey's number eight was able to pounce on the loose ball to score.

A well-struck conversion gave the Islanders a handy 12-0 lead.

Dagenham gave themselves some hope before the break, when they powered over out on the left to leave it 12-5 in Canvey's favour at the interval.

Further re-shuffling was necessary at the break as the hosts, who were already without first choice half back Louis Stevens, saw Kieran Clancy depart.

The visitors were in no mood to relent though, and added another try.

This was quickly followed by two penalties and a drop goal which effectively sealed the game at 26-5.

A small crumb of comfort for the home side was that they continued to take the game to the opposition, and James Griffiths grabbed a consolation score.

A frustrated head coach, Mark Collins, said: "We're being punished for our mistakes. We scored two decent tries and we set out stall out with great intent.

"We had a great compliment from Canvey. They knew we'd set out our stall but we had more injuries.

"We lost Kieran Clancy to concussion and he'll be put for three weeks and we go to Ipswich this weekend facing a massive test.