Dorking 17 : 0 Diss

The wind was blowing sideways and the rain was following as the players and hardy band of supporter left Diss for the journey down to Dorking, and the conditions did not improve until just before kick off. Some of the players did not arrive down until well after the start of the match due to the number of crashes on the motorways.

The wind was blowing up and across the slope on an exposed pitch, as the main pitch was waterlogged, making kicking a bit of a lottery, but Chris Beaird held the kick off into the wind and the Diss pack soon started to dominate the home side, which continued for the whole of the 1st half. As with the match last week against Basingstoke the pack were excellent, with the driving of Matt Richards, Tim Groom and Andy Horne the pick of a good 1st half performance.

The first half was heavily influenced by the referees whistle, but the four penalties that were awarded to Diss were all missed in the gale force winds, which was making place kicking a lottery. The home side only had one period of pressure in the half when good defence and the turning of the attacker as he crossed the line, saved points on the score board.

Diss did not take advantage of the slope, their pressure and the penalties and the teams turned round at half time 0-0.

The second half started as the first one finished with Diss playing on the front foot, and again the referees whistle to the fore, and after 10 minutes a flurry of punches from both packs led to only Tim Groom being yellow carded, and the whole complexion of the match changed.

With the man advantage in the pack the pressure began to tell and the home side were suddenly camped in the Diss 25m area. They had one penalty overturned due to indiscipline, but soon broke through the defence to score, much to the evident and vocal relief of the home side' supporters. The Dorking kicker is obviously used to the conditions as he started the conversion outside the post and it crossed the bar going parallel to the try line!

Despite the introduction of Ali Butler and Pete Chartier, Dorking had the scent of victory and soon crossed the Diss line again through a converted push over try from their forwards, and finished with a penalty in the last minutes.

As with 5 or 6 matches this season, Diss were in a position to win this game, and are certainly able to compete with most of the sides at this level, and the team and the supporters carry on believing that it is only a matter of time before the tide turns and we start to win. As most of the teams below Diss lost there is no change in the positions in the bottom 5 in the league.