Basildon Rugby Club draw with Diss (From Echo)

Basildon Rugby Club draw with Diss

10:00am Tuesday 30th October 2012 in Sport By Chris Phillips

A LAST gasp penalty miss from Lee Randal meant Basildon had to settle for a 12-12 draw against Diss.

Randal had levelled the scores by converting a Dave Stevens try just two minutes from time.

But he then just failed to land a penalty with the very last kick of the game.

Diss had earlier gone in front with a converted try in the 13th minute of the match and continued to have the better of the play.

However, the visitors then got lucky when a potentially try scoring pass from Randal to fellow winger Brad Johnson was deliberately knocked on and they escaped with just a scrum against them.

As half time approached Basildon were hanging on grimly and were pleased to turn round only one score down.

After the break and, with the wind behind them, Basildon should have been in the ascendancy but it was Diss who continued to look the better side.

They kept it tight and drove in to the Basildon half and had most of the possession.

But, in the 55th minute, Diss lost their prop with a nasty leg break.

After a lengthy time out for him to be attended to, it was the visitors who struck again with their speedy winger pouncing on a loose ball and going over out wide.

In reply, Basildon started to gradually come back in to the match and were at last winning some ball in the tight which led to them putting some pressure on the Diss defence.

With 10 minutes to go, Randal picked up a dropped pass and sped over from 20 metres.

He could not convert his own try but Basildon were now back in the match. Soon after, scrum half Chippy White made a superb break into the heart of the Diss defence.

He was tackled five metres short of the line and player coach Dave Stevens crashed over.

Randal levelled the scores and the now rampant home side had two minutes to get the win.

But it was not to be as, with the last kick of the game, Randal's penalty attempt drifted wide.

Basildon: Howard, Johnson, Dieu de la Bellefontaine, G Baker, Randal, Meadows, J White, Stevens, C Baker, Stuckey, Harman, Creasey, Chandler, Green Crowhurst.

Replacements: Hamm, B White & Jones