IN freezing conditions Mersea Island fell to a 37-10 Eastern Counties League division one defeat in Norfolk.

With a cold wind, hail and snow showers throughout, the style was dictated by the weather and it was the home side that mastered the conditions better.

Mersea skipper Jon Williams said: “The scoreline didn’t really reflect the efforts put in by the players.

“We also picked up a couple of injuries during the game which didn’t help.”

Crusaders made a good start to the match and took an early 18-0 lead.

Mersea continued to press but handling errors and lack of ball retention when in attacking positions was to be their downfall.

The Islanders full-back Matt Rose was having a good game, playing well and creating good counter-attacking opportunities. Rose was also linking up well with wingers Ed Baker and Matt Wilkin.

Just before half-time Williams slotted a penalty to cut the deficit to 18-3.

Mersea had their best period of play just after the break with a period of sustained pressure.

They came out firing and a neat pass from Pete LeMarquand released man-of-the-match centre Matt White. He broke up the middle of the pitch and passed to Andy Khan, who crossed for a try which Williams converted.

Mersea now piled on the pressure and turned over three line-outs in the Crusaders’ 22.

But errors crept in and the home side cleared their lines to prevent a Mersea score. And Crusaders ran away with the match in the closing stages to record the win.

Williams said: “If we could have come away with a try from our period of pressure then it would have been game on.

“We are a bit of a bogey side for Crusaders and they were fired up for the game. As the second half went on our players were getting colder and colder and the slippy conditions underfoot led to problems as well.”