Sudbury emerged victorious from a re-arranged, must-win battle at Barking, in London 1 North, on Saturday afternoon.

With both teams at the foot of the table, Sudbury were up against it, with eight players unavailable.

However, those who played performed fantastically to secure the points.

Chris Lewis got the visitors off the mark with a penalty kick, before Charles Jackson crossed the stripe but was hauled back for a foot in touch.

Sudbury maintained their pressure and Jackson broke and kicked ahead for Frazer Beckett to run on and score on the quarter hour, Lewis converting, before adding another penalty to extend the gap even further.

Sudbury’s backs were making the most of the space they were being given but Barking upped the pace for the last 10 minutes of the half and were rewarded with a try from a lineout. There, they won the ball and White nipped through the line to score.

Sudbury replied with another try from Beckett when he ran 40 metres to touch down behind the posts after an initial break by Tom Summers. Sudbury led 20-5 at the break.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half, Sudbury were hampered by the very low sun in their eyes but they kept things tight and continued to take play to the opposition.

Early in the second half a well-organised pick and drive through six phases of play put Barking on the Sudbury five metre line but they knocked on and, from the resulting scrum, they put the ball wide and ran round behind the posts.

Sudbury attacked from the restart, Jackson took play forward but Alex Zahid knocked on in the act of scoring. Beckett again picked up from the back of the scrum in the Barking twenty two, to run in wide on the right. Barking put in one last effort and had the best of the last 10 minutes. From a twenty-two drop out, Barking ran the length of the pitch down the right wing to score behind the posts.

A good result for Sudbury who travel to third-placed Chingford next week.