Walden win away at Basildon

On a cold afternoon with Basildons regular pitch unplayable the game was switched across the road to a local park and therefore in surprisingly good conditions the game was kicked off after a delay of 15 mins.
Despite some early Walden pressure, Basildon were first on the score board when they broke down the blind side and a couple of good passes saw the winger go in at the corner. 5 – 0 6 mins.
Walden drew level 10 mins later as they worked the ball deep into the Home teams half and after a couple of phases the ball was passed out to No 10 Tom Hughes who deftly kicked forward for right wing Ben Nash to use his pace to get to the ball as it bobbled towards the try line, he picked it up and dived over the line.
However Basildon regained the lead when Walden conceded a penalty and the home team kicked to the corner to set up a driving maul and trundle over the line. 10 – 5 18mins.
When the ball was in open play it was the Walden backs who looked more lively and this told when on the half hour mark the ball was fed down the line and some slick play by the backs saw centre Mark Kimberley breaking through and make the perfect pass to put Nash over again this time closer to the posts to give Walden the lead for the first time in the game. 10 -12.
But Basildon came back and with a dominant scrum forced the set up their backs and a misnunderstanding by the Walden defnece enabled Basildon to score under the posts just before half time with a converted try to leave the half time score at 17 -12.
Walden knew they had to cut town on the errors and with the elements know in their favour with the wind and slope working together, they started off brightly and 5 minutes into the half the pressure told as Basildon gave away a penalty at the ruck. Scrum-half Will Brown reacted quickly tapping and going forcing the defenders to tackle him without retreating and the referee marched them back 10 putting the kick into Tom Prices range and duly took the 3 points on offer. 17 -15 46 mins.
5 minutes later Walden again forced another penalty this time after Basildon were penalised for not rolling away and Price kicked again to give Walden the one point advantage at 17 -18.
For 20 mins it was a bit of stalemate, with both sides defending well and not conceding any ground as the game was played mostly in the middle of the park.
With 5 mins to go Walden had gradually worked the ball into the visitors half and after several phases finally found some space as the ball was spun back from the base of a ruck and full back Tom Price recieved the ball and with 2 men outside him, the covering defence drifted wide and he sensed a gap and sprinted though to score wide out.
Then to cap a fine game he kicked the difficult and crucial conversion to put Walden 8 points in front with 4 mins left to go. 17 - 26
Basildon did not give up and forced Walden back into their half, Walden conceded a penalty which Basildon kicked to the corner and they then set up another driving maul to score. 22 – 26.
With one minute to go the kick off was taken and Walden managed to turn the ball over to stop Basildon having a chance of a late rally and the game was won.
An entertaining game despite the conditions and Walden will know they will have to improve when they face Rochford at home next week, a start will be to cut out on the unnecessary penalties that could have so easily cost them the game.