Basildon sunk to the bottom of the table after losing 23-15 at Romford & Gidea Park.

The defeat was Basildon’s fourth in a row. But they led for large spells of Sat

urday’s game before eventually being overhauled by their hosts.

Romford got off to a good start and were awarded a penalty in the third minute which was successfully kicked.

However, Basildon then started to apply pressure with their pack dominating the scrums, and as a result, they pushed over the line with Luke Crowhurst scoring a try.

Six minutes later Brad Johnson received the ball on the wing out of a scrum to score another try which made it 10-3 to the visitors.

But Romford managed to close the gap before half time with another penalty.

But the second half started off well for Basildon when Joe Green drove over to make it 15-6.

In reply, Romford caught Basildon out with a quick tap penalty before moving the ball 50 metres upfield to score a try, which was not converted.

They then went in front four minutes later with a penalty.

Basildon’s hopes of a comeback were hit by two of their forwards being sin-binned.

And Romford took full advantage by scoring their third try of the afternoon, which was also converted to leave Basildon as the only team in the division without a point so far this season.