Millwall 33 Maldon 27

Millwall skipper Finbar Dennehy believes his men must show an immediate improvement despite showing abundant character to overcome Maldon at Millwall Park on Saturday.

The hosts dominated the opening exchanges, before twice falling behind to the visitors and appeared to have left themselves with too much to do when they trailed by four tries to one midway through the second half.

Yet the home side proved to be up to the challenge and hit back to score four tries in the second half to secure a narrow victory.

“The boys showed great character to come back and snatch the victory, but we will have to learn from today’s mistakes and build again for next week’s game against Campion,” Dennehy said.

Maldon opened the scoring after intercepting a Millwall pass early in the first half and continued to push forward in an attempt to add to their tally. The hosts soaked up the pressure and drew level before the break when Sean Russell powered over the Maldon line after a break inside their 22.

Maldon reclaimed the advantage soon after the restart with another try after some good running from their outside backs.

Millwall attempted to hit back, but the visitors were up to the challenge and continually rebuffed their attempts.

Maldon extended their lead as their lively back-line cut through Millwall’s defence to score their third and fourth tries of the contest and take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Yet Millwall refused to roll over and cut the deficit when Andrew McMahon crossed from close range.

The try spurred the hosts on as Tom Ronayne went over between the posts.

He was then involved in Millwall’s fourth try as the back-line created an overlap for Dennehy himself to set up Robert Quinn to cross in the corner.

Maldon continued to attack and added a penalty in the second half, but Millwall proved to be up to the test and clinched victory when prop Shaun Cooke touched down after a five metre line-out.