Chingford faced Brentwood for the first time in several seasons and the opening exchanges promised a high scoring encounter. Several abortive threequarter movements by Chingford were eventually rewarded when first Garston, then fly half debutee Ben Pollard and lastly NO. 8 John Burnage blasted through the defence for the opening score converted by Pollard. The free flowing game then subsided into stalemate as the referees whistle took centre stage. Chingford continually looked for their centres to break through but a spilt pass meant a 60 yard chase back to under their own posts where Fitzgerald was penalised for disallowing quick repossession to Brentwood. This was duly converted by Brentwood. Two further Chingford penalty kicks were off target but just before half time good work by scrum half Bolton-Smith created a gap and Tom Childs sprinted in the corner for an unconverted try to leave the match unbelievably still in the balance at 12-3 to the home side. The second half was unremarkable except for the eccentricity of the whistle. Chingford won this half by 2 penalties to one and the lone yellow card but by the end of the half the final whistle was blessed relief. Debut Player(s) – Ben Pollard, Jade King and Chris Garstin Player of Day – Chris Moore “Poor game across the park. A number of individuals were not in the game and we allowed Brentwood to successfully get under our skin. We lowered our own personal and team standards. We need to play above teams like that, we have far better performances in us than what we dished up for our home supporters”, said Coach Stefan Smith