SOUTH Woodham Ferrers dug deep to beat local rivals Basildon 17-0 in London Two North East.

Woodham went in front when David Bull touched down under the posts and Jack Reeve added the conversion.

But the setback seemed to spur Basildon into action and the put together several phases of play to test Woodham’s defence.

However, they were unable to get on to the score-sheet and Woodham remained 7-0 up at the break.

After the break, Basildon continued to attack and that resulted in Woodham’s Curtis Apthorp being shown a yellow card.

Woodham were still able to defend strongly though and Basildon were still unable to convert their pressure into points.

Woodham suffered a further blow when James Wilson was also yellow carded but when back to full strength the home-side were able to get back on top.

As a result, Warren Duggen soon touched down before Leon Gatson did likewise to complete the scoring and seal victory for Woodham.

The win pushed the home-side up to eighth in the standings but Basildon remain in 10th, 13 points below Holt who are just above them in the table.