Newly-promoted Old Walcountians tamely surrendered to Croydon in their Surrey One opener on Saturday.

The Old Boys had the visitors on the rack in the early stages and it was no surprise, after six minutes, when number eight Gavin Welsh powered over for a try that full-back Ollie Beales converted.

But Walcountians lost their way, allowing the visitors back into the game, and a more committed and cohesive Croydon eight won the ball several times by driving forward as a unit and forcing the Old Boys off the ball.

To make matters worse, Walcountians’ defensive tackling was uncommonly weak and allowed the visitors to break the first tackle, and the Old Boys’ discipline was poor too, conceding territory by giving away far too many penalties and having two players sin-binned.

Walcountians managed to hold a narrow first half lead after Croydon reduced the arrears with two penalties.

However, the pattern of play established in the first half continued in the second.

The Old Boys appeared to have turned the corner 16 minutes into the half when the pack followed up on a break by the threequarters which took play into the Croydon 22 and recycled the ball from a ruck to put skipper Alex Sutherland over for a try.

But failure by Walcountians to field and clear a speculative kick allowed the Croydon full-back to score a try and bring the visitors back to within one point of the hosts.

The final minutes of the game were traumatic for Walcountians as the visitors turned a narrow deficit into a clear lead.

Firstly, a penalty in the 30th minute put Croydon in front for the first time.

Then, in the 38th minute, Croydon extended their lead when their open-side flanker slipped a tackle, kicked ahead and took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to score a converted try.

Finally, several minutes into stoppage time, Croydon sealed victory when their forwards drove over for another converted try from short range.

Walcountians open their campaign in the first round of the RFU Junior Vase when they take on Kent League Two side Askeans this Saturday.

Eighteen years ago, the visitors were in National League Three and had England props Paul Rendall and Jeff Probyn in their lineup, but have fallen on hard times since.

Kick-off at Clock House (2.30pm).