BRAINTREE maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-earned victory over Canvey Island in a match made difficult by appalling weather conditions.

Tree were totally dominant in the first half, running in four tries despite heavy rain turning the pitch into a quagmire in places.

Kingsley Joslin was first on the score sheet , running home for a try after a great break by scrum-half Darren Page.

James Abbott ran in two more tries and full-back Glenn Whyatt added a fourth as Tree put Canvey’s defence to the sword, Joslin converting two of the scores.

All the hosts could notch up in response was a penalty, leaving the Black and Ambers with a healthy 24-3 half-time advantage.

After the break Tree continued where they left off, the impressive Whyatt adding a second try of his own and Joslin converting to stretch the visitors’ lead to 31-3.

Whyatt was then yellow-carded for a fairly innocuous looking tackle which was deemed high by the ref, but continued to attack, with only a last gasp intervention preventing Kyle Crush from scoring again.

Canvey used the extra man to their advantage, scoring two unconverted tries which narrowed the gap to 31-13, but Tree hung on for what was a deserved win.

BRUFC Manager Brian Joslin said: “I was very pleased with the win in such poor weather conditions but I believe we’d have won by more had it been drier.

“We’re improving all the time and our midfield unit of Craig Willis, Kingsley and Joss Adams is gelling really well in both attack and defence.

“We have great back row options at the club as well at the moment and our skipper Tom Carslake was superb at number six today. Wes Apps also had a strong game in the second row.

Tree are back in Essex One action again at the weekend when Billericay are the visitors to Robbs Wood in what is sure to prove a real test of their early-season promotion aspirations.

Braintree’s second XV made it a double celebration on Saturday when they won 38-5 away to Clacton IIs.