Dagenham got their campaign back on track with a tense 20-19 win at Saffron Walden.

After a couple of disappointing weeks, they saw an early infringment in defence lead to a penalty which Saffron Walden gratefully converted for a 3-0 lead.

Dagenham responded well, with a prolonged period of possession, and worked their way downfield with physical carrying by Ben Davies, Sam Clark and Mitch Sinfield.

And they were rewarded with a kickable penalty of their own, converted by Josh Groom to level.

As weather conditions worsened, the Dagenham scrum began to turn the screw and eke out several penalties, with one such set-piece providing a one-on-one for captain Nat Farrell to dive over and score in the corner.

After another period of contested territory, Dagenham received a yellow card for a defensive infringement, with Saffron Walden kicking a penalty to make it 8-6.

Things soon got worse for the visitors as they received another yellow card for a high tackle, but despite the disadvantage their defence managed to hold out until half time.

The hosts edged in front in the second half after kicking another penalty, but once Dagenham got back to a full compliment of players they were soon on the attack.

After being awarded a penalty of their own, they saw the effort from Groom drop just short, but it wasn’t long before Dagenham were on the scoreboard again.

A lovely piece of play saw Groom make a half-break, before offloading to Lewis Pruce and he found his centre partner Earl Gorman to race in for the try.

It wasn’t long before the hosts struck back as an excellent offload of their own managed to find the winger to dot down by the touchline, putting them 14-13 up.

It looked as if the game might slip away from Dagenham at this point, as they received another high-tackle yellow card, giving the hosts another opportunity with field position.

And they made the most of it, crashing over from close range to extend their lead to six points with only five minutes remaining.

However, Dagenham immediately gave themselves a chance when Conor O’Toole managed to reclaim the restart and the ball was swung wide to Farrell, who put a kick in behind the defence.

Liam Power put further pressure on, before Dagenham were awarded a penalty and a quick tap was taken and the ball again passed wide, with Pruce setting the platform in the middle of the field.

With the Saffron Walden defence scrambling, Josh Cook spotted a gap next to the ruck and darted through to score a try by the posts.

Still facing a one-point deficit, it came down to the conversion attempt of Groom and he slotted the ball through the posts to put Dagenham ahead.

There was still a minute to play, but the D’s managed to regain possession and end the game for a well-fought victory.

They will look to take the momentum of this win into next weekend when they host Chelmsford at Central Park.