THURROCK moved up to fourth in London One North after seeing off a spirited Chelmsford 34-28.

The victory moved T’s to within six points of second placed Brentwood and delighted their director of rugby Dean White.

“This game was a real war of attrition,” said White.

“We did very well to get the bonus point out of this fixture as Chelmsford put us under a lot of pressure in the set-piece.

“But we started the game very slowly and at half time we found ourselves behind with a lot of work to do.

“We spoke about sticking to how we wanted to play and how to change the game which is what we did.

“The players came out in the second half and again showed what a great team we have.

“Some of the rugby produced in the second half was fantastic, we moved the ball very well considering the conditions and our game plan really caused them problems.”

Defeat for Chelmsford kept them in the bottom three.

But White believes their Essex rivals will soon work their way out of trouble.

“Chelmsford are a good side, they will cause teams problems and will be very unlucky to finish in the bottom three,” said White.

“They play intelligent rugby and have a strong set-piece.

“Credit must go to them for pushing us hard but credit must also go to our players for producing a second half performance that they can be proud of.”

Thurrock will now be bidding for more of the same when they travel to table-topping Amersham & Chiltern for another crunch clash.