Wymondham ended a run of four straight defeats with a narrow win away at bottom-of-the-table Canvey Island.

Dane Canning returned to the fray for the trip but Dave Blake was missing from the forwards.

Tom Wilson converted an early penalty for Wymondham but Canvey started using their larger pack in rolling mauls to put a lot of pressure on young Matt Brighton, Lee Bartlett and the rest of the pack, eventually scoring an unconverted try in the corner to take a 5-3 lead.

Wymondham responded well and were awarded another penalty for a Canvey player holding on which Wilson converted to take a 6-5 lead.

Canvey again made good use of their forwards and, after Wymondham had a man sent to the sin bin, Canvey managed to bundle over again for a converted try and a 12-6 lead.

Wymondham made their way back into Canvey territory through the efforts of Wilson, James Swinburn and Ashley Harrop, orchestrated by the guile of Justin 'The Bolt' Loveridge, and were duly given another penalty which Wilson converted and Canvey were also reduced to 14 men.

The score was 12-9 to the hosts at the break and they scored a converted try to increase their lead to 19-9 early in the second half.

Wymondham hit back when Duckham charged down a kick and picked up to score under the posts for a converted try to bring the visitors right back into the game at 19-16.

Again Canvey retaliated and a penalty saw them increase their lead to 22-16.

Josh Wright burst over from a maul to score an unconverted try to bring it back to 22-21 and Canvey converted another penalty to put them 25-22 ahead.

Then Billy Duffin came on for Bartlett at hooker and the two youthful players were putting mounting pressure on the tiring older Canvey front row and from more attacking pressure on the Canvey defence Brown saw his opportunity to burst through to score a converted try to put the visitors ahead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game, at 28-22.

Canvey tried to come back from this and the Wymondham defence was under a barrage but holding up well. Eventually a penalty was awarded to Canvey, which if kicked, would have drawn the game but luckily for Wymondham the match official informed them they were four points behind so they tried to score a decisive try but were held out by strong defence and eventually the ball was turned over and Wymondham brought a thrilling game to a close.

On Saturday Wymondham welcome Harlow to Tuttles Lane for another tight fixture (2pm kick-off).