CANVEY ISLAND..........................................10

CHELMSFORD...............................................21

Chelmsford kept their title hopes alive on Saturday with a sound victory over close rivals Canvey Island and the win takes Chelmsford two points clear of second placed Shelford with two league fixtures remaining.

It was 20 minutes before the first points were put on the score sheet as a penalty was kicked by fly half Christian O'Hare.

Four minutes later, Canvey had the opportunity to level the scores but the kick was off target.

The score remained at 3-0 until just before half-time when scrum half Rob Earley was able to break through the Canvey defence to score a try.

In the second half, the home team were first to gain any points when they successfully kicked a penalty, but O'Hare was also on target with the boot and also kicked two further penalties.

Canvey then scored a try on 38 minutes and this was also converted.

However, there was still more to come when, following the pattern of the first half, Earley broke through the defence just before the end and scored his second try. With O'Hare converting, the end result was a comfortable win for Chelmsford.

On Saturday Chelmsford travel to play Colchester in a friendly.

Other results: Chelmsford II 42, Canvey Island II 0: Canvey Island III 22, Chelmsford III 12: Chelmsford IV 29, Rochford IV 0.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.