In an absorbing London League division three north east derby, Mersea Island finally bounced back to winning ways at the Youth Camp, beating Braintree 15-5.

With this being the last league game before the Christmas break, Mersea entertained a Braintree team who had convincingly beaten Mersea 29-3 in their previous league encounter.

And with the Islanders not having won a game since the end of October this was going to be an interesting encounter.

The late withdrawal of centre Mike Fields and absence of injured skipper Jon Williams meant a reshuffle in the Mersea three-quarters with Nick Woodlands starting at scrum-half and Alex Stratton-Thomsett in the centre.

Both teams started the game cautiously and it was Braintree who struck first with a fine piece of running rugby to see second row Neil Fitzearle crash over for an unconverted try.

This seemed to spark the Mersea pack into playing and some good breaks from prop Jay Hatcher and number eight Brendan Cook pushed Braintree back into their 22.

Mersea were awarded a series of penalties, and Paul Le Marquand slotted to make it 5-3 at half-time after Braintree failed to retreat ten yards.

Unfortunately, injury struck the Mersea team and they were forced into making changes to the pack with James Sparks and Andrew Sutcliffe having to leave the field to be replaced by Steve Daniels and Toby Green.

With the wind and the hill to their advantage Mersea could sniff the win and started to believe in themselves.

Andy Windridge and Nick Card both had fine games in the back-row alongside number eight Cook, who showed great strength with the scrums retreating.

Stevie Daniels made a big impact in the second row and bossed the line-out well.

An excellent kick and chase by full-back Dan Kerr, which he collected, saw him dance his way past two defenders to go in under the post.

Le Marquand converted to give Mersea a deserved 10-5 lead.

Braintree tried to hit back but great defence from the team kept them at bay.

The centre partnership of Walters and Stratton-Thomsett was solid throughout the match, and wingers James Parks and Drum Sydenham put in some great defensive tackles.

A turnover from a ruck and fast hands released wing James Park and with the cover tackles being missed, the flying winger scored a fine debut first team try in the corner to give Mersea a ten-point lead with 15 minutes to go.

The whole Mersea team stepped up and defended doggedly until the final whistle and the side were delighted with the victory.

Club captain Williams was thrilled with the outstanding spirit and commitment displayed by the whole squad and is now positive that this victory will re-ignite Mersea’s season and get them back to winning ways in 2009.

Mersea Island’s next league match will be on January 10 away to Rochford RFC.