Westcliff came to the aid of Rayleigh when a player and pitch shortage threatened to have their game cancelled.
But Thames, who included many players of first-team experience, barged their way to victory thanks to their powerful runners.
The front row pinched two strikes against the head and Martin Powell fired a drop goal narrowly wide, but that was the closest Rayleigh came.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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