SOUTH Woodham Ferrers’ winning run was ended by a 31-15 defeat at Diss.

Woodham had been hoping to bag their first away win of the season on the back of two successive home victories.

But Diss had other ideas to leave Woodham’s David Baker a frustrated figure.

“We were looking for the first away win but sadly it wasn’t to be,” said Baker.

“Diss were incisive and clinical in attack and made the most of their attacking chances whereas we coughed up the ball or gave away silly penalties on our visits to the opposition 22.

“Both sides will have been disappointed with their performance as handling mistakes or moments of ill-discipline saw promising attacking moves halted.

“It seemed that neither side really hit their straps but we will be most aggrieved because we couldn’t hit the level of intensity that had seen us victorious in the last two games.”

Diss opened the scoring with a penalty early in the first half as the two sides tested each other’s defence.

Woodham’s attack was just starting to look promising when Diss managed to break through the line to score the first of their four tries.

The home side scored their second try before Woodham hit back with a well worked try from the back of the scrum as Joey Dukelow pounced on a ball chipped through the Diss defence to carry the ball over the line.

The half ended with Diss 17-5 in front but some poor defending in the opening minutes of the second period allowed the hosts to draw ahead with a third try.

The visitors then enjoyed a period of ascendancy during which they scored a second try from a dominant scrum, with Jake Knowles touching down.

Alex Baker slotted the conversion and followed that with a penalty as Woodham fought to get back on terms.

The last quarter of the game saw both sides testing each others’ defence but on each occasion the ball was either turned over or stalled by a penalty.

The game looked like fizzling out into a stalemate until Woodham’s Stuart Whatling was sin binned for a high tackle on a falling Diss attacker. The home side took full advantage and scored their bonus point try in the closing minutes of the game.

In London One South, Thurrock lost 29-15 to KCS Old Boys while, in London Three Essex, Basildon’s sluggish season continued with a 71-0 defeat at Harlow.

Basildon remain bottom of the table having been beaten in all seven of their games this term.

In Essex One, Billericay won 35-23 at Writtle but Canvey Island lost 12-10 at Millwall.