So many of our great artists were inspired by Dagenham Central Park. Art historians may maintain that John Constable’s The Haywain was painted at Flatford Mill, but looking at the fluffy trees and dappled blue/grey sky, we all know that actually he set up his easel at Dagenham. As a young man, Pablo Picasso went on an artists’ weekend outing to Becontree, and was inspired by the ochre and white boxes on the block of flats at one end of the pitch to invent Cubism. It is surprising that there are not more of those blue plaques around the place.

Strangely, with so much painterly inspiration around, the exterior of Dagenham’s club house could itself do with a lick of paint, but it is a neighbourly club house, difficult to get out of sober – even when the result does not quite match your hopes…

Park kicked off with the wind, and George Smith PCB slotted an early penalty with computer-like precision. For the first twenty minutes, Park’s young team tackled Dagenham’s big ball carriers with great intensity, knocking them back. Gabe Daley and Cam Petrie were particularly impressive. Dust flew up from the pitch like a cattle drive in a Western. Moving into the opposition 22, Barney Saverole had a dart. One of Dagenham’s big men knocked him over but, owing to his impressive girth, was unable to bend down far enough to hold Barney, who stretched under his gut and over the line to score. At this point Park were 0-10 up.

Sadly this is as good as it got. It is gruelling work tackling larger men, players get injured, and others are forced to play out of position. But basically Park could not maintain the intensity, and tackles were missed. Dagenham started to gain the ascendancy, and one of their big men rumbled over for their first try.

It is always a pleasure to watch Dagenham’s backs. They fill the pitch well, run hard and fast, and invariably have players there for the offload. Before half time, they created an opening down the right flank, and scored a second try to leave the score 14-10.
In the second half, Park let their heads go down, and Dagenham scored five tries with little meaningful opposition. Our old friend Tommy Cameron pulled off some beautiful place kicks, and also made good use of the wind kicking from hand.

Park’s players took a lot of injuries, and tall Paul the physio was much in demand. As we know, he is a versatile main of many skills. Romford’s faithful had a fine view of his on the pitch plastic surgery to reconstruct Teddy Duke’s face. It is a bit much that some of Park’s players also expect Paul to be a bootmaker as well, raiding his supplies to repair their footwear. What is wrong with new boots?

Park recovered in the last ten minutes, despite being reduced to fourteen men. Paul Webb took a quick penalty and crashed over for one of his classic tries – at some damage to his knees. More of his skin was left on the pitch than on his knees. Indiscipline crept into Dagenham’s play and Park might have scored another before the end but could not press home their advantage.

So a bright first twenty minutes ended with a disappointing result. Admittedly Dagenham are a much more experienced side, and their backs are clinical finishers. But with a little more application the score need not have been so large.