FOR 65 minutes, Clacton held their own in Saturday’s London League division three north-east fixture.

However, four unanswered tries for visiting Stowmarket in the closing stages meant the final score of 48-7 was not a true reflection of the game.

But the result confirmed Clacton’s relegation from the division.

Stowmarket started the stronger of the sides and took the penalty opportunity to open their account after six minutes.

They continued to press, with Clacton only having one visit to the opposition 22 in the opening quarter, but it was 24 minutes before the visitors crossed the try-line with a rolling maul from their forwards.

A forward pass denied them a second try, but the game was very scrappy, with no real atmosphere.

Clacton’s forwards were competitive in the line-outs but struggled when it came to scrum-time and it was no surprise when Stowmarket scored a second try four minutes before the break.

A successful conversion meant they held a half-time lead of 15-0.

Two minutes into the second half, Stowmarket looked to increase that lead with a wind-assisted penalty, but the kick was wide.

However, it induced a handling error for a five-metre scrum and it needed all the rugby skill and knowledge of captain Jake Buxey to tidy things up and get the ball clear.

With 50 minutes on the clock, the Seasiders seemed to be on the wrong end of some contentious refereeing as the visitors rumbled a third try under the posts.

An easy conversion was added, but the home side were then forced to play the next ten minutes with just 13 men as two Clacton players were yellow-carded.

The 13 held out with no further scoring and, once back up to 15, they scored a try of their own.

A period of concerted pressure was rounded off by Jake Buxey, getting the ball over the line, and Matt Barbour added the extra two points to make the score 22-7 with just 15 minutes to go.

Unfortunately, the Seasiders then lost their influential prop, Shane Jerram, with a hand injury.

The re-organised pack had no answer to Stowmarket’s maul and they forced their way over the Clacton line with just five minutes of normal time left.

Three minutes later, the referee awarded a penalty try and then Lee Amman was shown a second yellow card.

An exhausted and outnumbered Clacton had no answer to a now rampant Stowmarket as the referee proceeded to find an additional ten minutes of time.

This was enough for two more tries for the visitors and a final score of 48-7.

So, a disappointing outcome in the end, and it also removed the final mathematical possibility of the Seasiders avoiding relegation.

They now have to see out their final five league games before regrouping in Essex League division one next season.