MERSEA Island ran in six tries to claim a fine home 42-31 win over Wymondham and prove that only their away results have stopped them from being higher than their eighth place finish in the Eastern Counties League division one.

It also saw the last performance for the club from former skipper and coach Jon Williams who stood down a few weeks ago.

Williams said: “I was so glad to have been persuaded to come back for the final game.

“It was good to go and shake hands with people and it felt like a proper farewell to the club.

“It’s just unfortunate that I have so many commitments now that I had to call it a day.”

Mersea kicked off with the wind behind them but the visitors were the first to score.

Spurred on by their sensational skipper Andy Khan, the Mersea pack were dominant throughout the match, and provided the backline with a solid platform to control the game.

Adam Bland had a very solid game at flanker, linking well with openside Andy Moncur and Khan.

The front row of Stephen Blacklock and the Cawtheray brothers was powerful and supported well by David Bredin and Drummond.

Mersea attacked and from a scrum inside the visitors 22 they scored a converted try through Bredin to take the lead.

Then Mersea’s Matt Rose scored a very good individual unconverted try to make it 12-5.

Mersea were using the wind behind them to good effect and earned two quick penalties which were converted by Williams to race into an 18-5 lead.

Wymondham now began to fight back and a great break from their own 22 saw the lead reduced to 18-10.

Mersea replied with another converted try through Harry Marsden just before half-time to bring up a 23-10 scoreline.

Wymondham struck first at the start of the second half to make the score 23-17.

Marsden then scored a good converted try under the posts.

Mersea centre James Goldring then scored a very good individual try, which Williams converted, to take them out to 37-17.

Wymondham could have settled for the end of season result as it stood but instead threw everything at Mersea and scored another good try which was converted to make it 37-24. This was followed by another converted try to close the score to 37-31.

Mersea again bounced back from a solid five-metre scrum, Williams fed Paul Le Marquand to score a converted try to bring this pulsating game to an end with the score 42-31. Williams converted for a personal tally of 14 points with the boot and a very fitting way to finish his 20-year association with Mersea Island RFC.