Lakenham Hewitt 13, Dereham 20Dereham had their first win since the opening day of the season, against fellow strugglers.With only five minutes on the clock a maul allowed Dereham No 8 Rob Annable to peel off down the narrow blind side and escape the oncoming defence to score in the corner.

Lakenham Hewitt 13, Dereham 20

Dereham had their first win since the opening day of the season, against fellow strugglers.

With only five minutes on the clock a maul allowed Dereham No 8 Rob Annable to peel off down the narrow blind side and escape the oncoming defence to score in the corner. Jack Edwards failed to convert from out wide but began to run the game at fly half.

He brought centres Craig Chester and Jason Pilbrow into the game, who were having real success with clever passing and excellent lines of running. Craig Chester put in a contender for tackle of the season with a crunching hit on Dereham's own 22-metre line.

The Lakenham Hewitt kicker slotted over a penalty from in front of the posts but Dereham asserted them-selves again with some excellent work at the breakdowns leading to Pilbrow breaking the line, drawing the full back and offloading to Chester who went in under the posts (converted Edwards).

The final 10 minutes of the half became Lakenham Hewitt's best of the period, but Dereham's defence stood firm with excellent work from captain Richard Dunshire, Andy Brooke and hooker John Sutton. Dereham were nine points up at the break.

All of a sudden Dereham began missing tackles and losing scrums against the head, which led to the first of the home side's tries. The conversion was missed but Dereham gave away a penalty on their own five metre line, which was quickly tapped and led to Dereham finding themselves a point down and needing to respond quickly.

Dereham began to recycle the ball nicely again, working tit to the blind side with full back Daniel Ponder joining the line nicely before offloading to winger Jason Watcham. He beat three men and dived over in the corner to cap an excellent move with a really superb finish. The tough conversion was missed. Dereham were never really troubled again. A penalty in front of the posts was converted by Jack Edwards to give Dereham a seven-point lead with only a few minutes remaining.

Dereham will look to carry the momentum of this win into a friendly with Norwich Union before the local derby at Moorgate on December 19, against Swaffham, kick-off 2.15pm.