Braintree suffered at the hands of a much improved Ipswich side from last season's outfit, who offered an afternoon's entertainment for the home support, but left their guests wondering what had hit them.

Witham match The first 20 minutes went well for the Black and Ambers. Ball ran smoothly from the forwards and when Mark Wadforth jinked his way over from the 22 line for Andy Tunningley to convert, all looked ideal.

The home side then disrupted any advantage and scrum half Darren Page, with the pack on the retreat, always had his counterpart hounding him and spoiling his normal game of counter-attacking from the base of the scrum.

A return try, a succession of penalties, then a second try built up the home side's points. Tunningley kicked a penalty just before the turnaround, and only 19-20 down the score did not seem insurmountable.

After the break Ipswich ran riot. Braintree's forwards saw less and less of the ball as Ipswich drove them back. Ipswich ran everything and with slick handling they kept second phase contact to a minimum leaving little chance for Braintree to steal possession.

The score built up, but just before the end Darren Smith took the ball from a quick Page penalty and drove over the line for a consolation try.

To rub salt in the wound, Ipswich squeezed yet another score before the final whistle blew.

Braintree will have to forget this defeat and get on with their own game when Bishops Stortford are their guests for the next London 2 North League match tomorrow (Saturday).

The seconds travel for their Merit match, while the thirds play hosts to Bishops Stortford, and the fourths are away to Canvey Island IIIs in a B.L. Office Centre Essex Merit game.

Braintree's Mini & Midi section played host to Upminster and Romford & Gidea Park with the following results: U12 v Upminster L 14-26. Tries: Drew Locke, Sam Thorogood; Conv. Drew Locke (2), Romford L 0-26. U11 v Upminster W 7-0. Try: David Duffus; Conv. Jason Ford. Romford W 21-7. Tries: Harry Marsden (2), David Duffus; Conv Jason Ford (3). U10A v Upminster A - W 20-0 Tries: Charles Monk (2), Carl Ostler (2). Romford A - W 10-0. Tries: Carl Ostler, Jack Gibbs. U10B v Upminster A L 0-20. Romford A L5-25. Try: Tom Hart. U9A v Romford A L5-20. Try: Christopher Vince. Romford B W 30-5. Tries: James Duffus (3), Christopher Vince (3). U9B v Upminster A L15-20 Tries: Aidan Pemberton, Elliot Barnard, Craig Roper. U8A v Upminster A W 20-10. Tries: Lloyd Dare (2), Tony Rowe (2), Romford A - L 10-20. Tries: Tony Rowe, Ben Smith. U8B v Romford A - L 15-20 Tries: Ben Smith (2), Ben Smith. U8B v Romford A - L 15-20. Tries: Ben Smith (2), Ben Amos. U7A (i) v Upminster L 25-45 Tries: Charles Marsden (5). Romford W 30-0 Tries: Charles Marsden (6). U7A(ii) v Upminster L 50-40. Tries: Bryn Donald (4), Oliver Pemberton (2), Callum Barnard & Jamie Masters. Romford L 15-20. Tries: Jamie Masters (2), Bryn Donald.

Other Results: Braintree II 10, Ipswich II 31; Braintree III 27, Millwall I 32; Pegasus I 25, Braintree IV 17; Braintree V 10, Millwall II 74; Sudbury Colts 30, Braintree Colts 13. Bury St Edmunds U16 24, Braintree U16 24. Tries: Barry Tame (2), Graham Barulis and Gareth Jackson; Conv. Craig Willis (2). Ilford Wanderers U15/16 22. Braintree U15 17. Tries: Dean Penn (2), Eddie Oakley; Conv. Joshua Winwood. Bury St Edmunds U14 0, Braintree U14 58. Bury St Edmunds U13 32, Braintree U13 5. Try: Jason Hadley.

Witham 10, Ravens 13

(Tetley Vase Preliminary Round)

Lee Wilkey the Witham captain, is often heard these days asking "Why me?" as he has problems with availability owing to injury, work commitments and other personal commitments which has prevented him from the luxury of fielding a settled side.

His problems were worsened when Dave Wilson made a late withdrawal before Saturday's cup match and he had to go in with a makeshift front row of Mann, Kevin Hayes and Andy Robinson.

Hardly an auspicious beginning, things got worse as the stalemate of the opening quarter was broken when Ravens took advantage of defensive errors to score an excellent try through Cecil Bartholomew.

After strong words at half time, he must have been horrified to watch some awful tackling allow scrum half, Jamie Scarsbrook, over to extend the lead and his misery must have been complete when Scott added a penalty within the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Simon Mann opened Witham's account five minutes later after Gareth Scott had found a fine touch deep in the Raven half.

Quick second phase ball saw Mann use the skills learnt at scrum half to twist and turn over the line and with the pack behind him he grounded the ball.

Nat Wray seemed to have brought the home side within three points minutes later.

Making a fine break he seemed to recover a fumble over the line but referee Steve Crichton adjudged him to have knocked on.

It took the Stags a further ten minutes before Wray popped up to complete a good team effort but a knee injury meant that Andy Robinson was virtually a passenger for the last 15 minutes.

This combined with some desperate defence ably organised by Raven's captain, Pat McCleary, saw the visitors just hang on to the relief of the final whistle.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.