Maidstone 17 v 13 Beckenham

Rugby Union London 2 South League

BECKENHAM travelled to Maidstone to be beaten by a side who coped better with a heavy pitch and strong wind, writes Neil Millan.

Coach Simon Kift said: "The conditions were hard and the sides were evenly matched and playing to win.

"What made the difference was a sin-binning in the second half and our naivety in dealing with the situation."

Maidstone scored first through John Wilford and Craig Whitehead converted.

Beckenham responded through Brendan Moore's try and Pat Wright's well-struck conversion.

The visitors went into the break ahead thanks to full-back Steve Benham's drop goal and Wright's penalty.

In the second half Maidstone took the game to Beckenham and changed everything after Glyn Roberts was inexplicably sin-binned by the referee.

Maidstone exploited Beckenham's short numbers with two well-worked but unconverted tries to finish the scoring.

Beckenham travel to Lewes on Saturday to play the league game which was postponed from September.