Pulborough captain Burfiend says they '˜embarrassed themselves' against Dartfordians

The home side failed to put down a solitary point in a 52-0 reverse against the runaway London 2 South East leaders at Freelands.

It was the visitors’ 13th straight success of the season, while the result left ‘Boro second-from bottom and nine points behind Heathfield & Waldron.

Dartfordians ran-out 118-0 winners when the two sides met back in September, but having had two Saturdays off over Christmas, ‘Boro hoped to go into the tricky clash as prepared as possible, despite being under no illusions of the task they faced.

In spite of that, Burfiend was left feeling let down but their application.

The skipper said: “It was a tough challenge at the weekend, which we were expecting after our last outing against them. However, we had a much stronger side this time round and by no means embarrassed ourselves.

“Dartfordians were very well drilled, probably the best we have seen all season. Combined with their fitness it was hard to defend against.”

Burfiend did give some credit to his side’s backline and pointed to the plus of seeing some returning faces.

He added: “However our defence, despite the scoreline, was strong and we managed to welcome back Hugo Baldwin and Fenn Caddick who have been out since the start of the season which is a big boost for the club.

“We had spells of strong attack, losing both our wingers we ended with two flankers on the wings, which changed our style of play.

“A bit more patience close to the Dartfordians line and we could have come away with a couple of scores.”

Pulborough will be hoping to start a drive away from the bottom of the table when they travel to eighth-placed Dover on Saturday.