Beckenham travelled to Gravesend on a decent run of form and with aspirations of upsetting the league leaders. There were no excuses for either side as conditions were ideal for open running rugby and both teams duly delivered in a highly entertaining game. But it was the home supporters that went away the happiest as despite leading early in the second half the visitors succumbed to defeat.

The first half hour was evenly contested with limited scoring opportunities as both sets of defences dominated. Eventually after a fine break by the full back, Ashley Moorey was in support to cross over for the home side, Dorton adding the conversion.

The visitors were quick to respond, a fine take in the lineout by George Daniels gave his pack the opportunity to drive forward and Eddie Redding crashed over from close range, Pat Wright added the conversion from wide out to level the score.

Beckenham were unlucky to lose Pete Isaac to a fickle yellow card and the home side took advantage as Ziggy Stevens latched onto a chip ahead to score, Dorton, converting again. Beckenham now had their best period of the game and after concerted pressure, Wright was given the opportunity to slot over a penalty to leave the half time score at 14 to 10.

Straight after the break, Beckenham, still down to 14 men, took the lead as James Perry weaved his way through to score under the posts. The conversion by Wright giving them the lead by 17 to 14.

But that was it for the visitors who defended well for 10 minutes before Gravesend got the better of the bounce to score out wide, another two tries and a penalty followed in a 20 minute period where the home side were ruthless and they showed why they are top of the table. This 22 point spell gave Gravesend an unassailable lead by 36 to 17 and effectively killed the game off.

Despite the inevitability of the result Beckenham rallied well and were rewarded for their efforts as Alex Jones picked up a loose pass and burst his way through the tackles to score and give Wright an easy conversion to leave the final score at 36 to 24 to the home side.