Diss recorded their third league win of the year with a narrow 15-14 victory over Chingford by scoring three tries to two.The margin would suggest that this was a hard-fought victory, but in the second half Diss could and should have converted several other scoring chances.

Diss recorded their third league win of the year with a narrow 15-14 victory over Chingford by scoring three tries to two.

The margin would suggest that this was a hard-fought victory, but in the second half Diss could and should have converted several other scoring chances.

However, having to field a side that was minus six regular first team players inevitably affected the game, but the coaching staff will have taken many positives from this performance.

The home side kicked off and started brightly, dominating the early exchanges. Following a penalty after Chingford were caught offside, Diss gained good line-out possession on the five-metre line.

The pack drove forward, and after recycling the ball a couple of times, drove over the Chelmsford line in the seventh minute, for number eight Andy Horne to score an unconverted try left of the posts.

Chingford kicked off, launching an attack of their own. The Diss defence coped well and soon turned over possession before attacking deep into the opposition half. Chingford regained the ball after a loose kick, and the home side made several tackles trying to pin the opposition in their own half.

The referee adjudged prop Matt Richards to have high tackled and showed him a yellow card. Diss were forced to reshuffle at the next scrum, and Andy Horne was temporarily withdrawn so that Josh Williams could go on as replacement prop.

Chingford took full advantage of their numerical advantage and began to launch some menacing attacks. Diss were forced to defend desperately, and held the ball up over their own line.

The visitors received a series of penalty awards after Diss were caught offside and in the end forced their way over the line for their fly-half Pearton to score near the posts.

He converted his own try to give the visitors a two-point lead. In the remaining minutes while Diss were reduced to fourteen men, they were forced to defend desperately as the opposition tried to build on their lead.

With the home side back to full strength, some momentum returned to the Diss game. After turning over an opposition scrum on the twenty-two line, the Diss pack rumbled forward. They eventually crossed the Chingford try-line for hooker Gideon Rossouw to score left of the posts. Once again the conversion kick was missed.

Just six minutes later Chingford opened up the Diss defence when the opposition fly-half neatly side-stepped around tackles before passing to inside centre Child, who scored behind the posts. Pearton added the conversion to give the visitors a four-point lead at half-time.

Diss restarted the game looking to get back into the ascendancy, and after just eight minutes were rewarded for their efforts. After a promising Diss attack had been halted when they lost possession, the Chingford fly-half had his defensive kick charged down by Diss scrum-half Pete Chartier.

He skilfully gathered the ball to score right of the posts, but although they changed their kicker, the home side once again were not able to convert.

Having gained a narrow lead, Diss were keen to build on it, and forced the visitors to defend for long periods of the second half. Late in the game, the experienced Seb Goodge and Rick Holt came on at fly-half and scrum-half respectively, which added to the Diss attacking options, but the final whistle was eventually blown, with Diss scraping home by just one point.

This was an exciting and positive match, well appreciated by spectators on a bitterly cold afternoon.